Publications related to Site-Specific PEGylation of HR2 Peptides: Effects of PEG Conjugation Position and Chain Length on HIV-1 Membrane Fusion Inhibition and Proteolytic Degradation

Development of tools and methods for protein identification: From single molecules to in vivo applications

As the fundamental machinery orchestrating cellular functions, proteins influence the state of every cell profoundly. As cells exhibit significant variations from one to another, analyzing the proteome on a single-cell level is imperative to unravel their ...

EPFL2024

The Structural Dispersity of Oligoethylene Glycol-Containing Polymer Brushes Determines Their Interfacial Properties

Harm-Anton Klok, Alberto Ongaro, Irene Filipucci

Ought to their bioinert properties and facile synthesis, poly[(oligoethylene glycol)methacrylate]s (POEGMAs) have been raised as attractive alternatives to poly(ethylene glycols) (PEGs) in an array of (bio)material applications, especially when they are ap ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Peptide-based virucidal drugs

Francesca Olgiati

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, viruses were not a major priority for the scientific community. Today, many events have changed the world and the importance of studying viruses, vaccines, and antiviral drugs is fully appreciated. The development of effective ...

EPFL2024

Optimality principles for the analysis of biological processes across scales: From enzyme kinetics to microbiome dynamics

Asli Sahin

Microorganisms are essential for life on Earth, performing key roles in numerous biological processes. Their influence extends across a wide spectrum, from human health and ecological balance to advancements in biotechnology and industrial applications. Th ...

EPFL2024

Investigating the intra-molecular and inter-molecular effects of post-translational modifications on intrinsically disordered protein regions and structured protein regions

Zhidian Zhang

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) play a pivotal role in regulating protein structure, interaction, and function. Aberrant PTM patterns are associated with diseases. Moreover, individual PTMs have a complex interaction with each other, known as PTM c ...

EPFL2024

Methods for high-throughput synthesis and screening of peptide libraries

Zsolt Bognár

Macrocycles provide an attractive modality for drug development but the identification of ligands to targets of interest is hindered by the lack of large macrocyclic compound libraries for high-throughput screening. A strategy to efficiently synthesize lar ...

EPFL2024

Synthesis and application of bifunctional hypervalent iodine reagents for peptide modification

Elija Grinhagena

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are responsible for regulating many biological processes in human bodies. PPIs often have a large binding site and often interact through an alpha helical segment. Therefore, the inhibition of PPIs can be difficult using ...

EPFL2023

Development of methods for the synthesis of large combinatorial libraries of macrocyclic compounds

Mischa Schüttel

Macrocycles have raised much interest in the pharmaceutical industry due to their ability to bind challenging targets while often still being able to cross membranes to reach intracellular proteins. However, the development of macrocyclic ligands to new di ...

EPFL2023

Optimal enzyme utilization suggests that concentrations and thermodynamics determine binding mechanisms and enzyme saturations

Vassily Hatzimanikatis, Daniel Robert Weilandt, Asli Sahin

One of the main challenges hampering the development of kinetic models is the lack of kinetic parameters for many enzymatic reactions. Here, the authors introduce a framework to explore the catalytically optimal operating conditions of any complex enzyme m ...

Nature Portfolio2023

De novo designed proteins: a study in engineering novel folds and functions

Alexandra Krina Van Hall-Beauvais

Proteins control nearly every facet of life on a molecular level. Proteins are formed from linear strings of amino acids, which fold into three-dimensional structures that can enact functions. Evolution has created highly efficient proteins in diverse fold ...

EPFL2023

An explainability framework for deep learning on chemical reactions exemplified by enzyme-catalysed reaction classification

Daniel Probst

Assigning or proposing a catalysing enzyme given a chemical or biochemical reaction is of great interest to life sciences and chemistry alike. The exploration and design of metabolic pathways and the challenge of finding more sustainable enzyme-catalysed a ...

2023

Peptide-Hypervalent Iodine Reagent Chimeras: Enabling Peptide Functionalization and Macrocyclization

Christian Heinis, Jérôme Waser, Xinjian Ji, Xingyu Liu

Herein, we report a novel strategy for the modification of peptides based on the introduction of highly reactive hypervalent iodine reagents-ethynylbenziodoxolones (EBXs)-onto peptides. These peptide-EBXs can be readily accessed, by both solution- and soli ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

Simultaneous membrane and RNA binding by Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus capsid protein

Sarah Victoria Barrass

Tick-borne encephalitis virus is an enveloped, pathogenic, RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Viral particles are formed when the nucleocapsid, consisting of an RNA genome and multiple copies of the capsid protein, buds through the end ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2023

Single-Molecule Peptide Identification Using Fluorescence Blinking Fingerprints

Pablo Rivera Fuentes, Salome Riccarda Püntener

The ability to identify peptides with single-molecule sensitivity would lead to next-generation proteomics methods for basic research and clinical applications. Existing single-molecule peptide sequencing methods can read some amino acid sequences, but the ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Multivalent Virucidal Antivirals: Synthesis, Mechanisms of Action, and Immune-stimulating Effects

Yong Zhu

Viruses initiate invasion by binding to cell surface glycoproteins. Materials mimicking the carbohydrate motifs of these glycoproteins, such as heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid (SA) can block viral attachment and inhibit the infection. Multivalent disp ...

EPFL2023

Inactivation mechanisms of influenza A virus under pH conditions encountered in aerosol particles as revealed by whole-virus HDX-MS

Tamar Kohn, Jonathan Paz Montoya, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Athanasios Nenes, Giovanni D'Angelo, Kalliopi Violaki, Shannon Christa David, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Walter Hugentobler

Multiple respiratory viruses, including influenza A virus (IAV), can be transmitted via expiratory aerosol particles, and aerosol pH was recently identified as a major factor influencing airborne virus infectivity. Indoors, small exhaled aerosols undergo r ...

2023

De novo developed small cyclic peptides that are orally available

Manuel Leonardo Merz

Cyclic peptides are ring-shaped molecules that emerged as a promising class of therapeutics. While it is often difficult to find small molecule binders for challenging disease targets, cyclic peptides can bind to featureless surfaces or inhibit protein-pro ...

EPFL2022

Cyclative Release Strategy to Obtain Pure Cyclic Peptides Directly from the Solid Phase

Christian Heinis, Manuel Leonardo Merz, Sevan Mleh Habeshian, Ganesh Ashokrao Sable

The synthesis of large numbers of cyclic peptides-required, for example, in screens for drug development-is currently limited by the need of chromatographic purification of individual peptides. Herein, we have developed a strategy in which cyclic peptides ...

2022

Model-based scale-up of a continuously operated consolidated bioprocess based on a microbial consortium for the production of ethanol

David Beat Dempfle

This work demonstrated that consolidated bioprocessing is a promising concept for conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol at industrial scale. CBP offers great cost saving potential, is feasible to be operated continuously and may be scaled up due to exten ...

EPFL2022

Investigation of Carboxylic Acid Isosteres and Prodrugs for Inhibition of the Human SIRT5 Lysine Deacylase Enzyme

Alexander Lund Nielsen

Sirtuin 5 (SIRT5) is a protein lysine deacylase enzyme that regulates diverse biology by hydrolyzing epsilon-N-carboxyacyllysine posttranslational modifications in the cell. Inhibition of SIRT5 has been linked to potential treatment of several cancers but ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2022