What comes to mind when you hear ‘peptides’?

Most people associate them with cosmetics.  But peptides are more than just advertising jargon – they are powerful building blocks using in synthetic biology.

Recently, GLP-1 – Glucagon-like peptides-1 – have been popularized as a weight-loss drug. GLP-1 is a peptide hormone that promotes insulin production and is used to treat type 2 diabetes and some have been approved for weight loss.

What are peptides?

Peptides are the building blocks of protein, and are made up of short strands of amino acids held together by peptide bonds, which are covalent bonds between amino acids. Different amino acid chain arrangements produce different peptides that perform different functions in the body.

As material scientists, we synthetically alter these amino acid chains to effect different actions. Because synthetic peptides are naturally produced and utilized in the body, it is easily broken down once these functions are performed.

At the Freeman Lab, the peptide is seen as the main character in the synthetic biology revolution. Early in her career, Dr. Ronit Freeman pioneered a technique that linked DNA with peptides. This tandem arrangement allowed for tremendous flexibility – both physically for the peptide-DNA’s,  and for their versatility of use.

It is the paring with DNA that sets this peptide assembly apart from those solely concerned with cosmetics and has opened the door for advances in synthetic biology, including the development of synthetic collagen, synthetic cells, therapies and treatments that could reverse the effects of neurological and lung diseases.

Recent news about the de-extinction of the dire wolf put a spotlight on synthetic biology. And while the dire wolf story was sensationalized and was not exactly bringing back the 10,000 year extinct species, it does bring widescale awareness as to what synthetic biology can achieve. 

It is the cell that is the basic building block of life, and it is the cell that is being fully synthetically developed at the Freeman Lab utilizing peptide-DNA structural framework that mimics the natural cytoskeleton.