Peptidomimetics - drugs for the future
By developing molecules which are able to regulate serine proteases, the phd work of Adnan Budnjo is another step towards developing new medicines against diseases as cancer, diabetes, and COPD. Thursday 19th of June 2014 he defends his thesis “Synthesis of serine protease inhibitors”.
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The main aim of the project has been to develop molecules that are able to regulate serine proteases. Serine proteases are enzymes, and if defected they may contribute to a range of diseases, e.g. cancer, stroke, diabetes, COPD and cystic fibrosis. Molecules that inhibit serine proteases have shown to be valuable as drug therapy in these diseases.
Proteases will bind to and break down proteins and peptides (part of proteins). In his phd work Budnjo has developed methods for chemical synthesis of peptidomimetics, i.e. molecules which can mimic peptides. Several of these peptidomimetics had the ability to inhibit different serine proteases, hence they can be an important step towards developing new medicines.
Adnan Budnjo began his phd period in 2010 with Associate Professor Bengt Erik Haug from Department of Chemistry and Centre for Pharmacy as his supervisor. The project has been done in collaboration with Professor Nathalie Reuter’s research group Molecular modelling of protein dynamics at Department of Molecular Biology, UoB.
The dissertation will take place Thursday 19th of June, 1030am, Auditorium 2, Realfagsbygget, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen.