The central theme of my research is to understand the chemistry and biology of peptides and proteins and to develop new approaches for manipulating these properties with purposefully designed small organic molecules. We employ chemical synthesis and combinatorial chemistry as well as spectroscopic and biophysical methods to accomplish these aims. Projects include: Rational design of small molecules for mimicking protein secondary structures to modulate protein-protein interactions involved in cancer Development of metabolically stable peptides as molecular imaging agents for non-invasive assessment of pancreatic beta-cells