Our laboratory focuses on the bioorganic chemistry of proteins.
Proteins are large organic molecules of amazing compositional and conformational diversity.
We developed a chemical approach for the production of the large polypeptide chains that make up protein molecules. Being able to synthesize these polypeptides allows us to change the structure of a protein in ways impossible by biological methods. We use solid-phase peptide synthesis to generate peptides up to about 50 amino acids long and then use chemoselective reactions to assemble the peptides into proteins of up to about 150 amino acids. We are interested in the forces and mechanisms that guide a linear polypeptide into its functional folded form. Backbone interactions are being investigated by replacing the natural amide bond with an ester bond.