Sunithi Gunasekera
Forskare vid Institutionen för farmaceutisk biovetenskap; Forskning; Farmakognosi
- E-post:
- sunithi.gunasekera@uu.se
- Besöksadress:
- BMC, Husargatan 3
75124 Uppsala - Postadress:
- Box 591
75124 Uppsala
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Nyckelord
- antimicrobial peptides
- nmr spectroscopy
- peptides
- protein-protein interactions
- rheumatoid arthritis
- structural biology
Forskning
Denna text finns inte på svenska, därför visas den engelska versionen.
My research involves exploring the potential of peptides as drug candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. As a structural biologist with an NMR background, I’m interested in understanding more about the 3D stuctures of natural bioactive peptides and how to use the knowledge from nature to engineer, therapeutically active peptides. Fascinating peptide structures are found in all living organisms. Plants, marine worms, scorpions and marine sponges are some of the organisms from which we have discovered interesting peptide structures in recent times. Aside from having inherent bioactivities, these peptide scaffolds provide stabilizing templates for drug design and can be used as tools in developing peptide drug conjugates, to name a few applications. We work on a number of therapeutic areas, including designing biologically stable peptides for antimicrobial activity and development of peptides as neutralizes of antibodies and diagnostic tools in rheumatoid arthritis. By focusing on peptide epitopes that are part of important protein-protein interactions, we make use of synthetic and bioconjugation chemistry to convert peptides into biochemical tools. Peptide occupy the therapeutic gap between small molecular drugs and larger antibodies or biologics, offering unique opportunities to target complex and intractable biological interactions.
In addition, I have a special interest to follow ethnomedical evidence to discover new drug leads, and contribute to development research in countries in need of capactiy building. With this focus, I have collaborated on various international projects in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia focusing on bioactive peptides.
From 2025 onwards, I will venture into a new area of research involving the blood cancer type, myeloproliferative neoplasm. The focus will be to understand the protein-protein interactions involving mutant calreticulin protein and its cryptic neoepitope in disease pathogenesis, with the overarching goal to develop peptide inhibitors towards more targeted therapies.
Publikationer
Urval av publikationer
- Making Ends Meet (2013)
- Fmoc-SPPS based synthesis of bioactive cyclic peptides via N-acylurea intermediates (2012)
- Circular Proteins from Plants and Fungi (2012)
Senaste publikationer
- Kalata B1 Enhances Temozolomide Toxicity to Glioblastoma Cells (2024)
- Screening for antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of Sri Lankan marine sponges through microfractionation (2024)
- Editorial (2023)
- Epitopes displayed in a cyclic peptide scaffold bind SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (2023)
- Exploring the limits of cyanobactin macrocyclase PatGmac (2023)
Alla publikationer
Artiklar
- Kalata B1 Enhances Temozolomide Toxicity to Glioblastoma Cells (2024)
- Screening for antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of Sri Lankan marine sponges through microfractionation (2024)
- Editorial (2023)
- Epitopes displayed in a cyclic peptide scaffold bind SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (2023)
- Exploring the limits of cyanobactin macrocyclase PatGmac (2023)
- Transforming Cross-Linked Cyclic Dimers of KR-12 into Stable and Potent Antimicrobial Drug Leads (2023)
- Antibacterial eremophilane sesquiterpenoids from Xylaria feejeensis, an endophytic fungi of the medicinal plant Geophila repens (2023)
- Screening for Cyclotides in Sri Lankan Medicinal Plants (2023)
- Good Practices in Sponge Natural Product Studies (2022)
- A stable cyclized antimicrobial peptide derived from LL-37 with host immunomodulatory effects and activity against uropathogens (2022)
- Tropical vibes from Sri Lanka - cyclotides from Viola betonicifolia by transcriptome and mass spectrometry analysis (2021)
- Barrettides (2021)
- Backbone Cyclization and Dimerization of LL-37-Derived Peptides Enhance Antimicrobial Activity and Proteolytic Stability (2020)
- Screening for bioactive secondary metabolites in Sri Lankan medicinal plants by microfractionation and targeted isolation of antimicrobial flavonoids from Derris scandens (2020)
- Stabilized Cyclic Peptides as Scavengers of Autoantibodies (2018)
- Alanine and Lysine Scans of the LL-37-Derived Peptide Fragment KR-12 Reveal Key Residues for Antimicrobial Activity (2018)
- Repertoire Studies in Rheumatoid Arthritis Reveal B-Cell Distortions and Baseline Shifts in Unmutated IgG (2018)
- Demosponge steroid biomarker 26-methylstigmastane provides evidence for Neoproterozoic animals (2018)
- Chemical Proteomics for Target Discovery of Head-to-Tail Cyclized Mini-Proteins (2017)
- Synthesis of cyclic citrullinated peptides targeting rheumatoid arthritis autoantibodies based on sunflower trypsin inhibitors (2016)
- Circular disulfide-rich peptide scaffolds as anti-citrullinated peptide antibody inhibitors (2016)
- Anti-Citrullinated Peptide Antibody Inhibitors Based On Sunflower Trypsin Inhibitor-1 Scaffold For Potential Anti-Rheumatoid Arthritis Activity (2016)
- Peptide biodiscovery from plants and animals (2016)
- A bioactivity-guided screening of Sri Lankan plants in the search for novel antibacterial and anticancer agents (2016)
- Engineering Of A Minimalized Domain Derived From Human Host Defense Peptide LL-37 Into A Stable And Potent Antimicrobial Drug Lead (2016)
- Engineering of KR-12 (2016)
- Selective membrane disruption by the cyclotide kalata B7: complex ions and essential functional groups in the phosphatidylethanolamine binding pocket (2016)
- A Cactus-Derived Toxin-Like Cystine Knot Peptide with Selective Antimicrobial Activity (2015)
- Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Bioactivity of the Stable Peptide RCB-1 from Ricinus communis (2015)
- Isolation, Characterization, and Synthesis of the Barrettides (2015)
- Targeting of anti-citrullinated protein/peptide antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis using peptides mimicking endogenously citrullinated fibrinogen antigens (2015)
- Chemistry and Biology of Cyclotides (2014)
- Backbone-Cyclized Peptide Dimers Derived from Human Cathelicidin Peptide LL-37 Mediate Potent Antimicrobial Activity (2014)
- Structure and Activity Relationship of the Echinochloa Crus-Galli Antimicrobial Peptide 1 (2014)
- Making Ends Meet (2013)
- Oxytocic plant cyclotides as templates for peptide G protein-coupled receptor ligand design (2013)
- Fmoc-SPPS based synthesis of bioactive cyclic peptides via N-acylurea intermediates (2012)
- Circular Proteins from Plants and Fungi (2012)
- Microwave-assisted total synthesis of macrocyclic cystine knot miniproteins (2010)
- An Efficient Approach for the Total Synthesis of Cyclotides by Microwave Assisted Fmoc-SPPS (2010)
- Mechanism of action of cytotoxic cyclotides (2007)
- Grafted epitopes on a peptide scaffold efficiently scavenge anti-citrullinated protein antibodies
- Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by antibody proximity extension assay employing peptide epitopes derived from spike protein
- Discovery of a novel nemertean peptide toxin subfamily (delta-nemertides) from the epidermal mucus of Lineus viridis.
- Immobilisation of semi-pure butelase 1 and its applications to produce head-to-tail cyclic peptides
- Transformation of KR-12 derived cross-linked cyclic dimers into stable and potent antimicrobial drug leads
- Impact of scaffolds for epitope display
Konferenser
