Biological and Pharmacokinetic Studies with β-Peptides

Interactions and cleavage reactions of β-amino acids and β-oligopeptides (up to nine residues, carrying the side chains of Ala, Val, Leu, Ile, Phe, Ser, Lys, and Hop) with biological systems, such as the most potent peptidases (pronase, proteinase K, 20S proteasome), microorganisms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida), and mammalian blood (intravenous application to rats) have been investigated and compared with ?-peptides. The results are: i) the three peptidases do not cleave β-peptides at all (within 24 h), and they are not inhibited by a β-peptide; ii) except for certain 3-aminobutanoic-acid (β-HAla) derivatives, neither free, nor N-acetyl-β-amino acids, nor β-peptides (offered as sole N and C source) lead to growth of the two bacteria tested; iii) two water-soluble β-heptapeptides (with Lys side chains) were shown to have elimination half-lives t1/2(β) of 3 and 10 h at 100- and 30-ng/ml levels, respectively, in the rodent blood – much larger than those of α-peptides. Thus, the preliminary results described here confirm the much greater stability of β-peptides, as compared to α-peptides, towards metabolization processes, but they also suggest that there may be interactions (by hitherto unknown mechanisms) between the worlds of α- and β-peptides

Laborvision ETH Zürich – Der neue Laborstandard der ETH Zürich: ETH Zurich Laboratory Vision – A New International Standard in Laboratory Design and Construction

The strong reputation of the Swiss Federal institute of Technology (ETH) is based on the fact that, since its foundation well over one hundred years ago, it has played a leading role in the engineering and natural science disciplines. Now, with the forward-looking ETH Laboratory Vision concept, it is once again putting its innovative capability to the test. In collaboration with private industry, a system has been developed which establishes a new international standard in laboratory design and construction. This Laboratory Vision concept will, in the final analysis, also owe its extensive international breakthrough to the fact that this type of laboratory design and construction is suitable for laboratories of all types. The proven conceptional flexibility of the modular system does not stand in the way of any application, whether it be for physical, organic, inorganic or technical chemistry. Also in biochemistry, in the molecular and medical sciences, and in material technology, the self-contained, autonomous unit of the laboratory cell, combined with the modular installation system, sets new standards for innovation and technology