Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Construction of Cyclic Cell-Penetrating Peptides for Enhanced Penetration of Biological Barriers
Published on: September 19, 2022
Bottom-up engineering of peptide cell translocators based on environmentally modulated quadrupole switches
Ariel Fernández1, Alejandro Crespo, Sridhar Maddipati
1Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. arifer@rice.edu
None:
Designing water-soluble peptides that camouflage their polarity to cross an anhydrous phase may significantly impact drug delivery. We engineered neutrally charged peptides endowed with a conformational switch that enables them to solubilize in both water and lipid. These peptides are capable of translocating without resorting to active internalization mechanisms. Lipid solubility is induced by a quadrupolar arrangement. Our passive translocation motif possesses the highest efficiency and is derived from cellular prions.
