Proteases reprogrammed through evolution
as novel cancer therapies

This proposal exploits the investigator and institution’s strengths and capabilities in bioengineering to develop innovative approaches to the treatment of cancer. Specifically, the proposal will examine the reprogramming of human proteases, enzymes that destroy other proteins based on their composition, to combat cancer. Investigators will develop and apply a novel evolution system that will allow them to quickly repurpose human proteases to target and degrade specific cancer-causing proteins of interest. They will then explore the utility of human protease-based cancer therapies as a novel method to control the levels of misregulated, cancer-causing proteins, for the development of completely new therapeutic strategies.