Cyclotide engineering for immune-activating PROTACs

Cyclotides are small cyclic peptides that are remarkably resistant to proteolysis and can be engineered to bind specific molecules using yeast surface display. These characteristics make cyclotides a promising structure to form the target-binding domain of a PROTAC with the goal of targeted degradation of intracellular antigens. This project aims to develop cyclotide-based PROTACs that target inhibitory molecules in immune cells to improve anti-tumor activity in cancer immunotherapies.