Protein-like Polymers – Designer Proteomimetics for Intracellular Targets
Marina Buyanova
Principal Scientist, Grove Biopharma, Inc.
Grove Biopharma is a seed-stage, preclinical biotechnology startup focused on targeting intracellular protein-protein interactions (PPIs) using a novel drug modality platform, Protein-like PolymersTM (PLPs). PLPs are synthetic, multivalent proteomimetics precisely constructed from modular, peptide building blocks. The dynamic globular architecture of PLPs simultaneously confers cell permeability, target-binding potency due to avidity, proteolytic stability, and long half-lives (~4-7 days). Importantly, PLP modularity enables decoupling of target binding optimization from molecular pharmacology, accelerating hit-to-lead timelines and bypassing some of the most challenging drug discovery hurdles for intracellular PPI targets. Grove research programs to date have predominantly focused on transcription factor PPIs. In this talk, we will highlight our platform validation work targeting the KEAP1-NRF2 signaling axis where we successfully transformed a peptide with no cell activity into a PLP with potent NRF2 activity in vivo and showcase our current pipeline of programs in oncology and immune-oncology targeting the MYC protein interactome.