Enhancing pathogen detection with sweet peptide tools

Host-pathogen interactions often rely on the binding between a host glycan (sugar) to a sugar-binding protein (lectin). Bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli rely on these protein-carbohydrate interactions to attach to, colonise and invade host epithelial surfaces to cause infection. This project will investigate how glycan lectin binding sites can be targeted for the development of better infection diagnostics.
The project will involve the development of recombinant glycopeptide libraries using phage display. These libraries will be used to identify and engineer high affinity ligands that bind bacterial pathogen lectins. A range of techniques will be used from molecular biology, phage display screening, protein expression/purification, biophysical techniques and diagnostic test development.