Friday, 10 October 2025 11:00am – 12:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Lecture Theatre 1

Speaker: A/Prof. Elizabeth Parkinson

Host: Dr Constance Bailey

Title: Utilising bioinformatics, biocatalysis, and synthetic chemistry to access natural product-inspired peptides

Abstract
Cyclic peptide natural products (NPs) from the soil dwelling Actinomycetota are a bountiful source of bioactive molecules, including medicines, agricultural products, and chemical tools to study biological processes. Additionally, the biosynthetic enzymes that produce them perform unique chemistries and are excellent starting points for biocatalysts. Unfortunately, many biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs, clusters of genes that encode for the enzymes that produce NPs) are cryptic. Accessing cyclic peptide NPs from these cryptic BGCs is quite challenging, thus slowing the discovery of novel bioactive cyclic peptides that can serve as leads for medicines and agricultural products. Herein, we are using bioinformatics predictions followed by direct chemical synthesis to access NP-inspired cyclic peptides from cryptic BGCs. These peptides have been screened for a variety of activities, leading to novel antibiotic and antiamoebic leads. Additionally, we are discovering and utilizing the biosynthetic enzymes to access otherwise challenging to access cyclic peptides. Overall, these approaches enable us to access cyclic peptides that are otherwise inaccessible, thus helping to expand the medicinal and agricultural pipelines.

Bio
Betsy attended Rhodes College, where she obtained her B.S. in chemistry in 2010. She conducted graduate research with Prof. Paul Hergenrother at the UIUC on the synthesis and mechanisms of the deoxynybomycin family of natural products. After obtaining her Ph.D. in 2015, she performed postdoctoral studies with Prof. William Metcalf at UIUC studying the biosynthesis of phosphonate containing natural products. Betsy started her laboratory in the Departments of Chemistry and Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University in the Fall of 2018 and was promoted to associate professor in Fall 2025. In her lab, research focuses on the identification of novel bioactive peptide natural products from cryptic bacterial biosynthetic gene clusters. Additionally, she studies the unique and challenging chemistries performed by natural product biosynthetic enzymes, such as cyclization of small peptides.