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Peptide Modification Strategies to Combat & Harness Infectious Disease

Peptides therapeutics are now at the cutting-edge of modern drug development. Supported by continued advancements in methodology, rapid growth of the field has now yielded over 80 FDA approvals. Recent peptide blockbusters include liraglutide and semaglutide, which exemplify the possibilities for new life-changing treatments offered by peptides. Harnessing chemical manipulation of peptides and proteins provides a means to address a range of challenges faced by society. However, there is an ongoing need for improved late-stage methods to modify these complex biomolecules, and in particular, for green synthesis methods. This talk will present our efforts towards developing new chemoselective modification strategies and green peptide synthesis approaches, including mechanistic investigations and the application of these methods to address challenges in infectious disease. Additionally, our progress towards oncolytic virus activated peptide-prodrugs for cancer will be presented.

Biography

Dr Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, a project leader in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery and current Ngā Puanga Pūtaiao Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His group is primarily focused on developing new chemical methods for chemoselective modification of peptides and applying these in the synthesis of medicinally relevant molecules, particularly within infectious disease and cancer. In 2024 he was the recipient of the University of Auckland Early Career Research Excellence Award and the Thermo Fisher Scientific award at the Queenstown Molecular Biology Meeting.