Released on: June 10, 2008, 2:11 pm

Press Release Author: GTCbio

Industry: Biotech

Press Release Summary: Paul Watt, Vice President of Drug Discovery at Phylogica to
Present at GTCbio's 2nd Protein Therapeutics Discovery & Development Conference on
September 8-9, 2008 in San Diego, CA

Press Release Body:
MONROVIA, CA - Dr. Paul Watt, Vice President of Drug Discovery at Phylogica will be
speaking at GTCbio's 2nd Protein Therapeutics Discovery & Development conference on
September 8-9, 2008 in San Diego, CA. Dr. Watt will give a presentation entitled
Phylomers: Synthetic Peptides Derived from Biodiverse Gene Fragment Libraries, for
Blocking Targets Inside and Outside Cells.
Phylomers are a new class of peptide derived from genomic fragments of biodiverse
archael and bacterial species. These peptides can have high affinities and high
specificity for targets, even before affinity maturation or optimization. Phylomer
peptides can also exhibit encouraging functional hit-rates, when compared to
randomly derived peptides, possibly due to an evolutionary selection of natural
sequences for structure and stability. Phylomer libraries have been made in yeast
two hybrid, phage display and mammalian expression vectors. Peptides have been
identified from such Phylomer libraries, with diverse activities, ranging from
antimicrobial to mimetics of discontinuous allergen epitopes. Synthesised Phylomers
directed against intracellular targets have been shown to function in animal models
of ischemia and wound healing of severe burns, when fused to a protein transduction
domain. Data showing Phylomer peptide blockade of an intracellular signalling
adaptor in a Toll Like Receptor pathway will be presented. A series of Phylomers
targeting CD40 Ligand (CD40L) will also be described, which are able to block CD40L
mediated biological functions. Results addressing the challenges of immunogenicity
and pharmacokinetics in the development of peptide therapeutics will be shown.

Dr. Watt will also present on how to overcome the hit-rate problem in screening
peptide libraries for functional inhibitors and how to deliver functional peptides
into cells in vivo using protein transduction, as well as extending half life of
peptides in human serum using retroinverso synthesis, finding peptide sequences
which are unencumbered by patents around targets or antibodies and share the process
of accessing a diverse array of target classes and target epitopes.

GTCbio's 2nd Annual Protein Therapeutics Discovery and Development Conference will
explore the therapeutic applications of proteins, with a look at discovery and
design of therapeutics, overcoming challenges associated with protein based drugs,
and new tools and strategies in process development. Finally, attendees will get an
update on novel developments in protein therapeutics. The keynote presentation will
be given by Dr. Michael Hanley, Vice President of Discovery Research & CSO of Amylin
Pharmaceuticals.

For more information including a detailed agenda, exhibitor opportunities and
registration information visit http://gtcbio.com/conferenceDetails.aspx?id=128.
ABOUT GTCbio
GTCbio organizes conferences specifically for the biomedical and biopharmaceutical
industries. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of biopharmaceutical and
biomedical intelligence between industry leaders, academic and government
organizations, and the financial community.
GTCbio is a subsidiary of Global Technology Community, LLC, a privately held company
founded in 2002.



Web Site: http://www.gtcbio.com

Contact Details: Contact: GTCBIO (626) 256-6405, (626) 256-6460 fax,
jason.yi@gtcbio.com
434 W. Foothill Blvd
Monrovia, CA 91016