The Smith group is using peptides and metal ions to target specific protein-protein interactions. We engineer peptides to include metal-binding moieties using either natural or non-natural amino acids. In the presence of metals, we can control the secondary and tertiary structure of our peptides so that they will specifically interact with protein or DNA binding partners.
We aim to utilize properties of both the metal ions and peptide backbone in our metallopeptide scaffolds to create novel metallotherapetics and bioanalytical detection platforms.