Sara Pellegrino
Professor
Università degli Studi di Milano
Italy
Sara Pellegrino is Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Milano, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Italy. In 2005, she gained the Ph. D in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Milano. In 2005-2006, she has been visiting scientist at the University of Regensburg (Germany). Her researches focus on the synthesis of peptides and peptide mimics, and their application in Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry and Material Science. She is particularly interested in peptide self-assembly and in deciphering molecular interactions at the basis of peptides activities, both as bioactive compounds and as biocomponents for drug delivery. Her studies take advantage on the use of non-standard amino acids as molecular bricks for the stabilization of peptide conformation and activity.
L05 - Solid phase synthesis of beta-hairpin mimics for amyloidosis treatment
Amyloidosis is a group of diseases caused by the abnormal folding of physiogically soluble proteins leading to fibrils formation in organs, systems or soft tissues. Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent type of amyloidosis and the commonest form of dementia. In our group, we developed a peptidomimetic strategy toward the inhibition of the aggregation of amyloidogenic peptides and proteins that is based on a structure-based approach. Sequence-specific beta-hairpins mimics are built on a piperidine-pyrrolidine scaffold linking different recognition sequences and forcing them to assume a semi rigid structure. The beta-hairpin mimics are easily produced on solid phase and efficiently sever the amyloid aggregation at sub-stoichiometric concentrations, both in vitro and in C. elegans-based proteotoxicity in vivo assay.