Peptides have the capability to control important functions of the organism, such as cell reproduction, appetite, euphoria, sleep, learning, immune response etc. The human organism produces a plethora of natural peptides which act as hormones, neurotransmitters, antibiotics,… These were the subject of intense research efforts during the last decades with the goal to understand the functions of the organism as well as the preparation of clinically -and diagnostically- useful compounds with high added value. The chemical synthesis of peptides offers special advantages with respect to the number, cost and quality of the products. It is also the only method which gives the potential of the production of modified/new products using non-proteinic natural amino acids or/and other molecules. Due to the importance of natural peptides, extensive studies have been carried out directed to their isolation, synthetic preparation and understanding their biological activity. These studies often impose the synthesis of natural peptides analogues, some of which may have superagonistic or antagonistic properties with selected biological activity. Many of the natural peptides or analogues are found in the market either as active substances or in the form of drugs (e.g. Oxytocin, Desmopressin, Leuprolide, Zoladex, Octreotide, Miacalcil, Relefact LH-RH, ...).

On the other hand, the synthesis of peptides which are homologues of protein parts helps us a lot to understand the immune specialization due to the capability of synthetic peptides to mimic the antigenic sites of the protein. Thus, we can determine these antigenic sites, a fact that permits the control of the immune system and has useful applications in molecular biology, biochemistry and microbiology. Due to their wide application, synthetic peptides constitute valuable tools for the research activity of many scientists who study the structure of natural peptides and proteins, their interactions with other molecules in the organism and the design of new peptide analogues. At the same time, synthetic peptides constitute the basis for the preparation of modified derivatives with important pharmaceutical and clinical applications. Synthesis of non-peptide drugs (agonists or antagonists of bioactive peptides) is of particular interest.

Work pioneered by R.B.Merrifield provided the field of protein/peptide research with the ability to automatically synthesize chains of amino acids on a solid support (solid phase peptide synthesis). Chemical synthesis provided the research scientist the possibility of incorporating non-biological amino acids into the peptide, thus increasing our ability to understand the structure -activity relationships of peptides. The ability to chemically synthesize peptides is regarded by many as one of the most significant breakthroughs of the molecular biology knowledge explosion. More versatile than natural peptides, synthetic peptides and the equipment to create them, unlock a world of possibilities in the development of new drugs.

In our Group, the study of chemistry and biology of bioactive peptides and designed peptide analogues encompasses, solid phase chemistry, molecular design, structure analysis, combinatorial synthesis and biological investigations. Targets are selected on the basis of novel molecular architecture, important biological activity and interesting mechanism of action. In addition, we are interested in the discovery and development of new solution and solid phase reactions for the purposes of delivering new molecules for biological evaluation. The aim is to optimise the opportunity for the synthesis of new biological peptides and to provide challenging arenas for education and training through logical reasoning and imagination.