Self-Assembling Therapeutics for Specific Nanoscale Interactions with the Sodium Pump

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The long-term science for this project is directed towards the preparation of new and effective therapeutics, and to dothis we need to ensure that our novel devices hit their biological targets and have proven efficacyin a particular disease application before we can commence a larger programme to guide theirdevelopment towards clinical practice. The European Science Foundation (ESF) Nanomedicine Forward Look describes the development ofnew multifunctional, spatially ordered, architecturally-varied systems for targeted drug delivery as apriority. Nanopharmaceuticals based on antibody-drug conjugates and polymer-biopolymerconjugates are a key component of enhanced efficacy medicines. While more complex, theseconjugates offer enhanced diversity, leading to drugs with much higher information content comparedto small molecule compounds. This allows for greater target specificity, improved functionality andthe opportunity to multi-task, for example to diagnose and treat in situ, or to act on more than onetherapeutic target or disease pathway simultaneously. The novel conjugate nanodevices we willprepare in this programme are thus uniquely able to address diseases which are inadequately treatednow. By exploiting new biological targets and interfaces, our materials will contribute a vital step inimproving patient, economic and society outcomes arising from disease.