Characterizing emerging companies in computational drug development.

Computation promises to accelerate, de-risk and optimize drug research and development. An increasing number of companies have entered this space, specializing in the design of new algorithms, computing on proprietary data, and/or development of hardware to improve distinct drug pipeline stages. The large number of such companies and their unique strategies and deals have created a highly complex and competitive industry.

SnoopLigase-Mediated Peptide-Peptide Conjugation and Purification.

Covalently linking together different proteins can enhance functionality for a range of applications. We have developed the SnoopLigase peptide-peptide conjugation method to easily and specifically link proteins fused to the peptides SnoopTagJr or DogTag via an isopeptide bond. SnoopLigase conjugation has been applied for enhancing enzyme resilience and for antigen oligomerization to enhance vaccine efficacy.

SnoopLigase peptide-peptide conjugation enables modular vaccine assembly.

For many infectious diseases there is still no vaccine, even though potential protective antigens have been identified. Suitable platforms and conjugation routes are urgently needed to convert the promise of such antigens into broadly protective and scalable vaccines. Here we apply a newly established peptide-peptide ligation approach, SnoopLigase, for specific and irreversible coupling of antigens onto an oligomerization platform.

SnoopLigase Catalyzes Peptide-Peptide Locking and Enables Solid-Phase Conjugate Isolation.

Simple, efficient reactions for connecting biological building-blocks open up many new possibilities. Here we have designed SnoopLigase, a protein that catalyzes site-specific transamidation, forming an isopeptide bond with more than 95% efficiency between two peptide tags, SnoopTagJr and DogTag. We initially developed these components by three-part splitting of the Streptococcus pneumoniae adhesin RrgA.

Dual Plug-and-Display Synthetic Assembly Using Orthogonal Reactive Proteins for Twin Antigen Immunization.

Engineering modular platforms to control biomolecular architecture can advance both the understanding and the manipulation of biological systems. Icosahedral particles uniformly displaying single antigens stimulate potent immune activation and have been successful in various licensed vaccines. However, it remains challenging to display multiple antigens on a single particle and to induce broader immunity protective across strains or even against distinct diseases.