TARGETBINDER · Target binders

We want to further develop our tools and technologies for high-throughput research, with the final goals being (I.) the particle-based combinatorial synthesis of 1 Mio different peptides on a glass slide for chemical costs of ~50€ (KIT, CBL, MS, TUV), and (II.) the labelling-free parallel readout of binding affinities by a variant reflectometric interference spectroscopy method for ~10.000 peptide spots per cm(+2) when staining the array with an unlabeled protein (BIA, KIT). These tools provide the basis (III.) for a standardized, fast, and reliable high-throughput procedure that we want to develop in order to find high-affinity peptide binders against any pharmaceutically interesting target protein. Such a procedure might have an important impact in medicine and in the biotechnology industry. In order to achieve this goal, we will use display techniques that in combination with high-throughput sequencing typically will identify ~100.000 putative peptide binders per target protein (ISO). These will be synthesized in array format to validate binding to the target protein by an independent method (PPP, DKFZ). Next, based on binders from initial screens, many variant peptides are synthesized in high-density array format for iterative screens (PPP, DKFZ, KIT), whereby massive parallel labelling-free detection of binders pinpoints higher-affinity binders (BIA). In order to validate our novel high-throughput procedure, (IV.) we want to find high-affinity peptide binders against relevant target proteins (delivered by APO and OXF), and test these binders in biological assays (OXF, APO).