Peptide-Guided Theranostics

One of the aims of the Peptide-Guided Theranostics lab is to develop translational targeted cancer therapies.

The Yes Associated Protein or “YAP” is heavily implicated in cancer progression. To inhibit YAP, we recently developed a peptide-drug conjugate, where the drug is a YAP inhibitor, and the peptide targets β5 integrin on cancer cells and cancer associated fibroblasts. Both the drug and the peptide are being evaluated separately in clinical trials for solid tumors.

The aim of this final master’s project is to study, in vitro, the effect of peptide-targeted YAP inhibition on the cell viability and phenotype of cultured cancer cells and fibroblasts, using our developed peptide-drug conjugates; with a long-term vision of applying them, alone or in combination, to treat different solid tumors.