NMR spectroscopy

Our group focuses on cyclic peptides, which are small stable peptides that can be tailored for treating a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We investigate all aspects of cyclic peptides, including their discovery from plants, determining their structure using NMR spectroscopy, testing their activity, synthesising and re-engineering them to make them more active and also producing them in plant ‘biofactories’.

Traineeships, honours and PhD projects include

• Discovery and structural characterisation of medicinal plant proteins
• Structure-activity studies of conotoxins
• Design of novel anticancer agents
• Protein engineering and drug design
• Molecular biology and evolution of cyclotides.