Manchester scientists discover new enzyme for greener cancer treatments

University of Manchester's discovery of a new enzyme has paved the way for a better and greener cancer treatment.

University of Manchester scientists have found a more promising, efficient and sustainable way of cancer treatment. They discovered a more sustainable way to create peptide-based medicines which are composed of small chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

Professor Jason Micklefield, lead researcher at The University of Manchester said, “Using our new ligase enzymes we can produce peptides with promising anti-cancer activity in a single process with excellent yields. Previously, these types of peptides were produced in much lower yields, by a very laborious 10-12 step chemical synthesis process. By combining different ligases together in a single cascade reaction, we can make many different peptides.”

Dr Guangcai Xuz, who also worked on the project said, “The ligases we discovered provide a very clean and efficient way to produce peptides. By searching through available genome sequence data, we have found many types of related ligase enzymes. We are confident that using these ligases we will be able to assemble longer peptides for a range of other therapeutic applications.”

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Peptides play important functions in the human body and are used in many medicines to fight serious health problems including infections, diabetes, and cancer. They are also used as nanomaterials and vaccines and in many other applications. Till now, the process of preparing the peptides was complicated and was damaging to the environment as it used to produce a lot of harmful waste. To overcome this, University of Manchester researchers have found a new family of ligase enzymes that can help assemble short peptide sequences robustly and simply.

UPP Foundation launches new collection of essays

The new collection of essays is written by the leading thinkers. The essays are about different sectors and it highlights the social and economic benefits of the universities.

Dr Julian Skyrme and Professor Richard Jones, along with Bev Craig (Leader of Manchester City Council) also contributed an essay on the role of The University of Manchester in supporting prosperity across Greater Manchester. The collection was published in memory of Lord Bob Kerskale, Chair of the UPP Foundation’s Civic University Commission (2018-19).

Dr Julian Skyrme, Executive Director of Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement at The University of Manchester said: "Lord Bob Kerslake was one of the most distinguished public servants of his generation and made a critical contribution to the higher education sector with his Civic University Commission. As the original civic university, The University of Manchester has been delighted to contribute to this collection of essays by civic leaders, which has been written with a new government firmly in mind".

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