About the project
The purpose of the project is to develop an artificial peptide based on the common characteristics of the proline-rich region in hard tissue extracellular matrix proteins to be used for induction of bone formation and biomineralization in regenerative medicine.
Genetic engineering of artificial polypeptides offers a novel method of developing materials for tissue regeneration. Due to their shorter length, compared to natural proteins, the artificial peptides are easier to produce and allows the use of amino acid analogues which may improve the stability. Moreover, they are cheaper and avoid the problems related to immunogenicity and disease transmission.
Among the extracellular proteins that regulate biomineralization are several molecules that exhibit proline-rich regions, like collagens, amelogenins, ameloblastin and bone sialo proteins. The proline-rich regions have remained remarkably well-conserved through evolution, suggesting that they may have functional importance. A consensus artificial peptide has been designed on the basis into similarity of protein and peptide sequences related to biomineralization process, on the purpose to get a peptide able to promote biomineralization.
The project will compare the regenerative potential of various proline rich peptide motifs based on bioinformatic analysis and established in vitro and in vivo models for the efficacy for promoting hard tissue formation.
Financing
The project is financed by grants from the EU Eurostar program