Aggregation of peptide drugs in presence of surfactants

Terrmin

HT23

Beskrivning

Peptides are molecules with size in the range between small molecules and large macromolecules. Peptides are smaller than proteins with an upper limit of about 50 amino acid units. Peptides consist of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups and may have one or more charged groups depending on pH in an aqueous solution. These properties may promote the self-association of peptide molecules in a solution. For instance, elongated fiber-like or nano tube-like structures have been reported to form out of certain peptide molecules. The aggregation properties of peptides have a large impact on the therapeutic properties of peptide drugs as well as on properties related to formulation and administration of the drugs. Peptide aggregates usually have a limited solubility in water and one way to improve the solubility is to add a surface-active agent such as a surfactant or a phospholipid.

In this project you will study the self-association behaviours of a peptide drug in presence of surfactant that may improve the solubility of the peptide. The size and shape of nanosized aggregates, the structure of which depends on concentration, composition and chemical structures of peptide and surfactant will be investigated with the experimental techniques static and dynamic light scattering and small-angle x-ray scattering.

Huvudområde

Farmaceutisk kemi

Ämne

Fysikalisk kemi

Typ

Laborativ studie

Företag

Uppsala universitet

Ort/Plats

Uppsala

Handledarens namn

Magnus Bergström

Handledarens e-post

magnus.bergstrom@ilk.uu.se

Institution

Institutionen för Läkemedelskemi

Program

Masterprogram i läkemedelsmodellering

Kurs

Degree Project in Pharmaceutical Modeling within Computational Medicinal Chemistry, 45 c - 3FK038

Omfattning/hp

45hp

Hur många studenter kan antagas för detta projekt?

1

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