New Path Molecular and Prof Michael Wakelam, Director of the Babraham Institute, have been awarded funding from the Babraham Campus Collaboration Fund to investigate interactions between lanthipeptides and cancer cell membranes. This fund supports the development of collaborative partnerships, with commercial potential, between Babraham Institute researchers and companies on Campus. It will finance translational studies and staff exchanges to facilitate the pump priming of future collaborative grant applications and the transfer of knowledge, skills and technology within the Babraham Research Campus.
The aim of the study will be to investigate interactions between lipids in cancer cell membranes and a class of cyclic peptides. The composition of the cell wall of cancer cells is abnormal relative to normal cells and targeting this may unlock a route to selective cancer therapies.
We are excited to be able to access Prof Wakelam’s deep understanding of lipid membranes and to pair it with New Path’s expertise in the synthesis of lanthipeptide based functional molecules.