Peptide-drug conjugates for weight loss maintenance

The worldwide rise in obesity rates is causing significant harm to human health. While effective weight loss therapies are emerging, the challenge of maintaining weight loss remains unresolved. With this project, we will leverage expertise in drug development to engineer novel peptide-drug conjugates designed to obstruct homeostatic weight regain in a cell specific fashion. In the food deprived state, a subset of hunger promoting neurons undergo structural changes that increases excitability and thus drives homeostatic weight regain. Capitalizing on our knowledge of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed in hypothalamic cell populations we will develop GPCR-targeting peptide-drug conjugates specifically designed to obstruct weight recidivism. To evaluate this drug-targeting approach, neurobiological methods including fiber photometry will be employed to confirm target engagement. Preclinical models are used to investigate the translational potential for treatment of weight loss maintenance following dietary and pharmacological weight loss interventions. The molecular mechanisms of action and receptor-target selectivity of the conjugates will be determined using loss-of-function mouse models. Pharmacokinetic properties of lead candidates will be optimized by incorporating chemical half-life extenders. This bridging between medicinal chemistry, neuroscience and pharmacology will give rise to new multimodal molecules targeting homeostatic weight regain mechanisms to address a vastly growing unmet medical need for weight loss maintenance pharmacotherapies.