Combining Recombinant DNA and Chemical Synthesis Technology to Engineer Anti-HIV Proteins
Event details
| Date | 16.01.2017 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Oliver Hartley, University of Geneva (CH) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR
(sandwiches served)
Abstract:
Through the progressive use of a combination of chemical synthesis and phage display approaches we have succeeded in generating optimized analogues of chemokine proteins that block CCR5-mediated entry of HIV into target cells with potency many orders of magnitude greater from the parent protein from which they were derived. One of these analogues, 5P12-RANTES, is now in clinical development as a medicine for HIV prevention. Several other analogues are proving to be valuable tools for investigating the pharmacology and cell biology of chemokine receptors. In my presentation I will describe the protein engineering techniques that were used in the discovery of these analogues and discuss how we are currently adapting them to facilitate their use in the search for potent inhibitors of other receptor targets.
Bio:
In 1997 Oliver Hartley obtained his PhD in protein engineering with Sir Gregory Winter at the Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. Following a brief fellowship working on antibody engineering with Glaxo in Geneva, he joined Robin Offord’s group at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva, where he became an independent group leader in 2005 and assistant professor in 2008. His main research focus at the University of Geneva has been the engineering of chemokine analogues as HIV entry inhibitors. This work has been supported by numerous grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Commission and the US National Institutes of Health and has led to the publication of a number of high-profile papers. In 2005 Oliver co-founded the Mintaka Foundation for Medical Research, a non-profit spin-off that is responsible for the translation of the anti-HIV chemokine project from the lab to the clinic. With support from the Wellcome Trust, Mintaka has completed the preclinical development of its most promising chemokine analog, 5P12-RANTES. In parallel with his work on HIV entry inhibition, Oliver has maintained an interest in developing and optimising protein engineering techniques, using a combination of techniques based on both peptide chemical synthesis and recombinant DNA technology.
(sandwiches served)
Abstract:
Through the progressive use of a combination of chemical synthesis and phage display approaches we have succeeded in generating optimized analogues of chemokine proteins that block CCR5-mediated entry of HIV into target cells with potency many orders of magnitude greater from the parent protein from which they were derived. One of these analogues, 5P12-RANTES, is now in clinical development as a medicine for HIV prevention. Several other analogues are proving to be valuable tools for investigating the pharmacology and cell biology of chemokine receptors. In my presentation I will describe the protein engineering techniques that were used in the discovery of these analogues and discuss how we are currently adapting them to facilitate their use in the search for potent inhibitors of other receptor targets.
Bio:
In 1997 Oliver Hartley obtained his PhD in protein engineering with Sir Gregory Winter at the Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. Following a brief fellowship working on antibody engineering with Glaxo in Geneva, he joined Robin Offord’s group at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva, where he became an independent group leader in 2005 and assistant professor in 2008. His main research focus at the University of Geneva has been the engineering of chemokine analogues as HIV entry inhibitors. This work has been supported by numerous grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Commission and the US National Institutes of Health and has led to the publication of a number of high-profile papers. In 2005 Oliver co-founded the Mintaka Foundation for Medical Research, a non-profit spin-off that is responsible for the translation of the anti-HIV chemokine project from the lab to the clinic. With support from the Wellcome Trust, Mintaka has completed the preclinical development of its most promising chemokine analog, 5P12-RANTES. In parallel with his work on HIV entry inhibition, Oliver has maintained an interest in developing and optimising protein engineering techniques, using a combination of techniques based on both peptide chemical synthesis and recombinant DNA technology.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Bruno Correia