The major focus of Dr. Jeffery Tharp’s lab is to develop peptides that have unique therapeutic and research applications. The lab is currently focused on developing cyclic peptides with anti-cancer and anti-viral properties.
Current Research Funding
4R00GM141320-02 (Tharp, PI)
Genetically encoded bicyclic peptide libraries for the discovery of novel antiviral agents
Recent Publications
J. T. Hampton*, T. J. Lalonde*, J. M. Tharp*, Y. Kurra, Y. R. Alugubelli, C. M. Roundy, G. L. Hamer, S. Xu, W. R. Liu, A novel regioselective approach to cyclize phage-displayed peptides in combination with epitope-directed selection to identify a potent neutralizing macrocyclic peptide for SARS-CoV-2. ACS Chem. Biol. 2022, 17 (10), 2911–2922.
J. M. Tharp, O. Vargas-Rodriguez, A. Schepartz, D. Söll, Genetic encoding of three distinct noncanonical amino acids using reprogrammed initiator and nonsense codons. ACS Chem. Biol. 2021, 16 (4), 766–774.
J. M. Tharp*, J. T. Hampton*, C. A. Reed*, A. Ehnbom, P.-H. C. Chen, J. S. Morse, Y. Kurra, L. M. Pérez, S. Xu, W. R. Liu, An amber obligate active site-directed ligand evolution technique for phage display. Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 1392.
J. M. Tharp, O. Ad, K. Amikura, F. R. Ward, E. M. Garcia, J. H. D. Cate, A. Schepartz, D. Söll, Initiation of protein synthesis with noncanonical amino acids in vivo. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59 (8), 3122–3126.
Research Team
Jenny Flora
Research Technician