# Chemical platform to produce covalent biologics

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · 2022 · $235,901

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The objective of the proposed research program is to develop a chemical platform technology to produce and
optimize covalent biologics - a new therapeutic modality. Biologic drugs constitute the large sector of drug
discovery, however their downside is a high price and the need for frequent injections. We hypothesize that
covalent biologics will have much higher potency and will need less frequent injections. The conventional
methods to produce covalent biologics rely on unnatural aminoacid mutagenesis but this method is not
throughput and suffer from the reduced protein production yields. The proposed chemical technology aims to
overcome these challenges by improving covalent biologic yield, allowing rapid synthesis and testing of 100s of
covalent biologic drugs in one day, and allowing virtually unlimited number of covalent warheads that can be
installed on the protien surface. This is a high risk proposal without any preliminary data as per instructions in
PAR-19-254. Our initial exploratory studies will focus on developing the chemical platform and validating it
using immune checkpoint inhibitors and anti-inflammatory protein therapeutics in both cell based studies and in
vivo. This is a Co-PI proposal involving Alexander Statsyuk from the University of Houston (expertise in
chemistry and protein biochemistry) and Victoria Mgbemena from the Prairie View A&M University (expertise in
immunology and mouse biology). Prairie View A&M University belongs to historically black colleges and
universities, and serves student population who are underrepresented minorities in science.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10511039
- **Project number:** 1R21GM147836-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexander V Statsyuk
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $235,901
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10511039

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10511039, Chemical platform to produce covalent biologics (1R21GM147836-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-08-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10511039. Licensed CC0.

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