COMBINATORIAL-SPLICING VECTORS FOR PEPTIDE SCREENING

THIS GRANT WILL PURSUE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMBINATORIAL PEPTIDE SCREENING SYSTEM CAPABLE OF ANALYZING ALL POSSIBLE PERMUTATIONS OF AMINO ACIDS OF UP TO 12 RESIDUES IN LENGTH. THIS INVOLVES SCREENING 1 X 1015 PEPTIDE MOLECULES AND REPRESENTS AN IMPROVEMENT OVER EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES BY 4 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL, THE POWER OF PHAGE GENETICS IS COUPLED WITH THE ADVANTAGES OF CLONING IN A NEW "POLYCOS" CLONING VECTOR SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM OFFERS TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL IN IDENTIFYING VALUABLE PEPTIDES FOR THERAPEUTIC, DIAGNOSTIC, AND CATALYTIC USE. THE OVERALL MARKET POTENTIAL FOR SUCH A SYSTEM APPROACHES THAT AVAILABLE FOR MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES. IN ADDITION, THERE EXISTS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVING PROTEIN MODELING AND ENGINEERING STRATEGIES.