About the project
We are seekign an outstanding chemistry student with an interest in chemical biology to work on a project to develop cyclic peptide inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction that is heavily implicated in the development and growth of tumours.
Mutant RAS proteins drive numerous cancers, with their inhibtion shown to have therapeutic potential in several tumour types. The majority of RAS inhibitors currently in development target the G12C KRAS mutant through a covalent inhibition mechanism, which limits their use to a small subset of cancers. The Tavassoli lab has used an in-house genetically-encoded library of cyclic peptides to identify several cyclic peptides that inhibit the interaction of RAS proteins with their affectors, and therefore inhibit downstream signalling in cancer cells.
In this project, we aim to continue the develop these inhibitors towards the clinic. In addition to the medicinal chemistry core of this project, the project will proivide training in a variety of chemical biology teniques such as recombinant protein-expression and purificaiton, and biochemical and cell-based assays. The ideal candidate will have prior lab-based experience of medicinal chemistry and/or synthetic organic chemistry, with an interest in chemical biology.
The project provides an excellent opportunity to receive high-quality training in a range of techniques at the chemistry/biology interface. The project will be conducted in the Tavassoli lab, in state of the art multidisciplinary laboratories, facilities and equipment at the School of Chemistry, University of Southampton.
More information about the Tavassoli lab can be found on the University of Southampton website:
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/chemistry/about/staff/ali1.page
