Drug peptides defy shape rules, activating receptors without full spiral form

When many of us think about how drugs work in the body, we may first think about how a drug gets into the body, such as a pill versus an injection. In the Gellman Group at the UW–Madison Department of Chemistry, researchers are instead thinking about how a drug behaves after it reaches its target, which is critical for effective drug performance. The cells in our bodies must receive and respond to information from their environment for healthy function, and when information flow is disrupted, illness can result. Most of the information is contained in molecules that engage with receptor proteins on cell surfaces. Many medicines work by modifying information transfer at specific receptor proteins.