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Houk-Jung Organic Colloquium 247: Joshua Kritzer

Organic Colloquium

When
May 18, 2023 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Where
Mani L. Bhaumik Centennial Collaboratory
607 Charles E. Young Dr., East
Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
Speaker Prof. Joshua Kritzer
Attachments

Description

Kritzer Flyer

Designing Stapled Peptides that Control Autophagy

Abstract: Autophagy is a cellular recycling process important for health and disease, and a major focus for new types of targeted protein degradation. The Kritzer Lab has used structure-based design to develop stapled peptides that bind the critical autophagy proteins LC3B and GABARAP with nanomolar affinities. Small changes in staple structure produced ligands with very different binding modes, leading to differences in paralog selectivity. The stapled peptides exhibited considerable cytosolic penetration and resistance to biological degradation. They also reduced autophagic flux in cultured ovarian cancer cells and sensitized ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin. These small, potent stapled peptides represent promising autophagy-modulating compounds that can be developed as novel cancer therapeutics and novel mediators of targeted protein degradation.

Prof. Joshua Kritzer

Organic Colloquium

Department of Chemistry

Tufts University

Attachments: