Laboratory of Therapeutic Proteins and Peptides
Open Positions:
PhD projects: We can regularly open new PhD positions in our lab (typically 1-2 per year). Currently we are looking for a student interested in cyclic peptide drug development against kinases (combinatorial chemistry, HTS, drug development) for a PhD position within the ANA-KIN doctoral network. More information can be found here. For interested students, please send a CV and cover letter to Prof. Christian Heinis.
Post-doc positions: Please feel free to contact us at any time if you are interested in joining our group as a postdoctoral researcher. Ideally, applicants should propose a specific research idea for addressing an important society need (e.g. a technology for drug development, a therapeutic strategy).
Master projects: We are looking for enthusiastic master students. Candidates are invited to send their CV via email to Prof. Christian Heinis.
Currently we focus on the following three projects:
Drugs based on cyclic peptides
The ultimate goal of our laboratory is the development of therapeutics for addressing unmet medical needs. Our current major focus is the development of membrane permeable peptides to reach intracellular targets and for oral application.
High-throughput synthesis of peptide libraries
For generating membrane-permeable ligands to new targets, we develop methods for the combinatorial synthesis and screening of large libraries of sub-kDa (macrocyclic) peptides.
Encoded peptide libraries
Genetic encoding of peptides allows for screening vast libraries of peptides. An important aim of our lab is to apply DNA-encoded library (DEL) technology to peptides.
Selected recent publications
Generation of membrane-permeable cyclic peptides inhibiting protein-protein interaction
Ji, X., M.L., Farrera-Soler, L., Li, J., Sangouard, G., De Sadeleer, N., Nielsen, A., Mothukuri, G.K., Zarda, A., Will, E.J., Pojer, F., Lau, K. and Heinis, C.
De novo development of small cyclic peptides that are orally bioavailable
Merz, M.L., Habeshian, S., Li, B., David, J.-A.G.L., Nielsen, A.L., Ji, X., Il Khwildy, K., Duany Benitez, M.M., Phothirath, P. and Heinis, C.
Synthesis and direct assay of large macrocycle diversities by combinatorial late-stage modification at picomole scale
Habeshian, S., Merz, M.L., Sangouard, G., Mothukuri, G.K., Schüttel, M., Bognár; Z., Díaz-Perlas, C., Vesin, J., Bortoli Chapalay, J., Turcatti, G., Cendron, L., Angelini, A. and Heinis, C.
We are grateful for support by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Research Council.
