Speaker:
Title:
Dissecting the selection criteria of mucus using short peptides
Abstract:
Mucus is a selectively permeable hydrogel that protects
epithelia from pathogens, while permitting the passage of helpful agents. The
selection criteria of mucus are not well understood, preventing us from
predicting the transport of pathogens and limiting our ability to design
drugs that penetrate through mucus. Natural substrates that diffuse through
mucus are composed of complex arrangements of charge and hydrophobicity.
Inspired by this, we characterize the combined impact of charge and
hydrophobicity on the transport of peptides in mucus.