Computational peptide design for diverse structures and functions
Gaurav Bhardwaj
Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, The University of Washington and the Institute for Protein Design
Macrocyclic peptides present attractive opportunities for developing targeted therapeutics. However, designing peptide binders against intracellular proteins and protein-protein interfaces remains a challenge with current methods and classes of scaffolds. We have recently developed computational methods to design peptides with enhanced membrane permeability and oral bioavailability. We are further integrating our computational methods with high-throughput peptide synthesis to design peptide binders for antibiotic, antiviral, and other therapeutic applications. Overall, these methods present avenues for binding intracellular targets currently considered "undruggable" or "difficult to drug".
Gaurav Bhardwaj is an Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Washington and the Institute for Protein Design. He received his doctoral degree from the Pennsylvania State University, and did his postdoctoral training with Dr. Kit Lam at the University of California, Davis, and Dr. David Baker at the University of Washington. His lab focuses on developing computational and experimental methods to design peptides for therapeutic applications.