This grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports the catalytic antibody work of Professor Kim Janda at Scripps Clinic. Specifically tailored antibody catalysts for the synthesis of organic and biological molecules will be made and studied. Antibodies which will survive in water miscible/immiscible solutions will be made and examined. Haptens will be synthesized which are designed to elicit antibodies which can catalyze peptide bond formation and the catalytic properties of the resulting antibodies will be studied. The use of antibodies to catalyze ring forming reactions will also be explored. %%% The ability of antibodies to increase the rate of organic and biological transformations will be examined. The immune system of mice will be induced to produce these antibodies by injection of molecules which correspond in structure to the highest energy point between the starting materials and products of these transformations. These studies are important since they will provide proteins designed to catalyze specific reactions for which no natural enzymes are available.
