Biotechnology for Drug Discovery

We are a research lab in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry (CBMC) at UNC Chapel Hill.  Our research focuses on the discovery and development of peptide macrocycles as next-generation therapeutics.  We exploit mRNA display, a biochemical method for the rapid synthesis and screening of vast peptide libraries, as our central discovery engine in this work.  Research is generally split between methods and targets: 1) developing methods to improve the diversity and pharmacological profiles of macrocycles available to mRNA display and 2) deploying these methods against important therapeutic targets and target classes that currently lack ligands and therapeutic starting points.  These efforts involve the integration of medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and computational chemistry.  More information can be found on the research page.  We are also members of the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, the Department of Chemistry, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.