Skin irritation

Principal Investigator:

Dr Jonathan Goodman

In our current understanding, skin sensitisation is in majority of cases due to an strong covalent interaction of small organic chemicals or their metabolites with skin biomolecules (most likely proteins). This strong interaction generates a complete antigen which provides the stimulus for an immune response mediated by T cells. The interaction of these chemicals with proteins can be studied in a model system by measuring the type and kinetics of reaction of peptides or proteins with small reactive organic molecules. The project would examine the reactivity and accessibility of peptides and extrapolate this to simulations of reactive groups on proteins using a combination of molecular dynamics and simulation of reaction chemistry by quantum mechanics. The objective is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of protein structure and dynamics on the reactivity of susceptible sequences and to extrapolate this to the immune response and skin sensitivity.

Summary

Members:

Mr David Ponting

Partners & Collaborators:

Unilever