Bioconjugation: Novel Reagents and Strategies for Cysteine and Disulfide Modification

The aims of the project are summarised as follows: 1. To develop a novel thiol stable pyridazinedione construct to address the above-mentioned unmet needs. 2. To investigate the reactivity of novel alkynes on reaction with cysteine and disulfides to also address the above-mentioned unmet needs. 3. To investigate the use of novel substrates for cysteine and disulfide modification in several therapeutic applications following the development of the core chemistry platform. This project thus aims to make a facilitating contribution in the EPSRC theme of Healthcare Technologies and is directly aligned with the grand challenge of Developing Future Therapies; especially in developing 'advanced technologies to enhance drug delivery' in various manners. The broader research area that this proposal directly links with is 'Chemical Biology and Biological Chemistry'; a key EPSRC research area. Our approach to developing a novel conjugation technology to enable fundamentally new areas of research, and add value to existing ones that have recently been unearthed, would further consolidate the UK's place at the forefront of this field. Moreover, this research will complement the existing ca. £95 million investment the EPSRC has in the areas of clinical technologies and biomaterials, thus consolidating UK science as world-leaders in these arenas.