Congratulations to Rokas on the acceptance of his paper, “Confinement and Catalysis Within De Novo Designed Peptide Barrels,“ in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The work was part of a joint study with Dek Woolfson.

The paper showcases the potential of α-helical barrel (αHB) peptide assemblies as versatile molecular tools to act as “molecular flasks.” The αHBs can selectively bind small molecule fluorophores such as Diphenylhexatriene or Nile Red within the hydrophobic lumen in specific orientations in close proximity to facilitate very rapid and efficient FRET. Additionally, the same barrels bind two anthracene molecules and catalyse photodimerisation reactions, underscoring their potential in complex chemical reactions.

Notably, the work illustrates the importance of protein design, as not all ternary complexes were productive at FRET or photocataylsis.

The article is available to read here, and has been highlighted by an article in the American Peptide Society.