A Minimalistic Cyclic Ice-binding Peptide from Phage Display

In this collaboration with EPFL, Switzerland and the Gibson group here at Warwick, billions of potential ice-binding peptides were screened using phage display – using a virus to generate loads of peptides and isolating those which display ice-binding activity.

We then used molecular dynamics to investigate exactly how discovered peptides bind to ice, allowing us to probe how structural differences affect ice-binding activity. Screening billions of peptides, and investigating binding activity – exciting stuff! Have a look at the paper online or grab a .pdf. The University of Warwick press release can be found here.