Proteins are nature’s molecular machines, carrying out nearly all the functions in the cell. Using proteins outside of their natural context is regarded as a powerful way to harness their unique capabilities to solve unmet challenges in therapeutics, catalysis and environmental remediation. However, proteins have limited stability and are difficult to synthesize in the laboratory. To address these issues, chemists are interested in designing and synthesizing protein-mimetic analogues that have similar properties. Such protein-mimetics can expand on the functions found in biological proteins by including non-natural side chains in order to access a wider structural diversity than is found in nature. The Witus lab engages students to synthesize and characterize novel synthetic protein-mimetic materials. The lab is currently focused on two main avenues towards the goal of creating protein-mimetic materials: mimicking the function of proteins by identifying minimal peptides with catalytic abilities and mimicking the structure of proteins by developing a synthetic route to new peptidomimetic structures.
Links to news about our group:
Links to news about our group:
- Press on Prof Witus and Larson's preprint study of the effect of vaccine educational videos on increasing vaccination intention can be found from: Macalester, Brief19, The New York Times, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, KARE11
- Information about Leah's Cottrell Scholar Award in 2021
- Profile of student researcher Erika Aguiluz, who also won Macalester College's Global Citizenship Award - congrats Erika!
- In 2016, Leah and Dennis congratulated their former advisor Fraser Stoddart on winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- In the summer of 2015, our lab participated in Macalester's HHMI Young Researcher Program, read more about it here
- Profile of student researcher Malik Mays
- Profile of student researcher Anneliese Gest