Yifan Song, Cyrus’ Chief Science Officer, contributes development to major aspects of Rosetta code for de novo design of hyperstable constrained peptides published in Nature

Article Abstract: Naturally occurring, pharmacologically active peptides constrained with covalent crosslinks generally have shapes that have evolved to fit precisely into binding pockets on their targets. Such peptides can have excellent pharmaceutical properties, combining the stability and tissue penetration of small-molecule drugs with the specificity of much larger protein therapeutics. The ability to design constrained peptides with precisely specified tertiary structures would enable the design of shape-complementary inhibitors of arbitrary targets. Here we describe the development of computational methods for accurate de novo design of conformationally restricted peptides, and the use of these methods to design 18–47 residue, disulfide-crosslinked peptides, a subset of which are heterochiral and/or N–C backbone-cyclized. Both genetically encodable and non-canonical peptides are exceptionally stable to thermal and chemical denaturation, and 12 experimentally determined X-ray and NMR structures are nearly identical to the computational design models. The computational design methods and stable scaffolds presented here provide the basis for development of a new generation of peptide-based drugs.

(Nature, vol. 538, p. 329-335, 2016)

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v538/n7625/abs/nature19791.html

 

Cyrus Biotechnology supports the Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling

SEATTLE and BOSTON, January 10, 2017 — Cyrus Biotechnology, Inc., a new biotechnology software company offering the most advanced protein modeling and design capabilities to the Biopharmaceutical, Synthetic Biology, Chemical, and Consumer Products industries is pleased to support the Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling (BAGIM).

With over 700 members and 17 industrial sponsors, BAGIM is one of the most preeminent and active professional communities in the Boston area, focusing on computer based modeling, facilitating information exchange and networking through presentations of scientific relevance by luminaries from industry and academia. In 2016, BAGIM has hosted nine well attended scientific presentations and networking events and continues to maintain an active presence on social media such as LinkedIn, Meetup, and Facebook.

In silico modeling and design of proteins is becoming increasingly relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, as investment in research, development and clinical trials of biologic therapeutics continue to grow. Cyrus Bench software, and the underlying Rosetta software package, are already leveraged by many global pharmaceutical organizations and are at the nexus of this major trend. Cyrus customers can apply the most advanced and validated in silico protein engineering science through an intuitive user interface for:

  •  Protein Structure Prediction (best overall performance at CASP and CAMEO)
  •  Protein Stabilization (single point mutants, multiple point mutants, evolutionary redesign)
  •  Protein / Protein Interface Design
  •  Protein Design (modifications to function or structure)
  •  Enzyme Optimization

Cyrus is pleased to support BAGIM ‘s efforts to advance biological informatics and modeling. Sponsorship from Cyrus will contribute to BAGIM expenses related to its educational/networking initiative centered around a lecture series.

Background

BAGIM (Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling)

BAGIM is an active community of Boston area scientists bringing together people from diverse fields of modeling and informatics to impact life and health sciences. BAGIM strives to create a forum for great scientific discussions covering a wide range of topics including data management, visualization, computational chemistry, drug discovery, protein structure, molecular modeling, structure-based drug design, data mining, software tools, and the sharing of goals and experiences. Our community is made up of participants from academia, government, and/or industry whose goal is to engage in the discussion of science involving a synthesis of theory and technology. Discussions sponsored by BAGIM are targeted to the needs and interests of informatics scientists, computational chemists, medicinal chemists, and statisticians. BAGIM also provides opportunities for networking within these disciplines as well as an arena for the dissemination of information of specific interest to the membership.

Cyrus Biotechnology

Cyrus Biotechnology, Inc. is a new privately-held biotechnology software company offering protein modeling and design capabilities to the Biopharmaceutical, Chemical, Consumer Products and Synthetic Biology industries. Cyrus was founded in 2014 as a spin-out from the University of Washington, and offers Bench, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for protein structure prediction, modeling, stabilization, engineering and design to accelerate discovery of Biologics and Small Molecules. Cyrus Bench is based primarily on the Rosetta software package from Prof. David Baker’s lab at the University of Washington, along with associated software. Cyrus Bench offers the world-leading protein structure prediction pipeline of Rosetta and SparksX, the top structure prediction software in the bi-annual CASP competition and the weekly CAMEO competition, as well as the only protein engineering software experimentally proven to design new proteins completely via software. Cyrus Bench is based on over 15 years of biochemistry software development and over 400 published papers demonstrating experimental efficacy in vitro and in vivo.

 

NOTICE: The information contained in this document is dated as of January 10, 2017. Cyrus Biotechnology, Inc. (the Company) disclaims any obligation to update such information after such date. This document contains forward–looking statements reflecting the Company’s current expectations that necessarily involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements due to a number of factors and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the issuance of this press release.

 

Cyrus Press Release 2017.01.10