From Petri Dishes to the Patent Office: LMU and MSMU Professors Patent Synthetic Peptide That Could Slow Diabetes

More than 40 million Americans live with diabetes, and between 90% to 95% of them have Type 2 - with more children, teens, and young adults developing the disease than ever before. While most existing treatments focus on managing blood sugar or replacing insulin, there is little research that focuses on protecting the cells that produce it.

Over the course of 16 years, David Moffet, associate dean and professor of chemistry and biochemistry in LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, and his spouse, Luiza Nogaj, professor of biology at Mount Saint Mary's University, embarked on research with 200 undergraduate students from the L.A.-based institutions. The end result: a patent secured by LMU and MSMU for a synthetic peptide designed to shield insulin-producing pancreatic cells from damage associated with Type 2 diabetes.

When Moffet joined LMU in 2005, he came with a passion for both research and teaching, drawn to the university's rare balance of the two. Several years into his tenure with the university, a student approached Moffet wanting to study Type 2 diabetes, motivated by his father's diagnosis. That conversation set the research in motion.

Moffet and Nogaj turned their attention to a small, little-known peptide called Islet Amyloid Polypeptide - or IAPP - which is typically released alongside insulin to help regulate blood glucose levels. In many cases of Type 2 diabetes, IAPP begins to fold incorrectly, clumping together to form toxic amyloid, which are found in more than 90% of people with Type 2 diabetes and are believed to contribute to the death of beta cells. As those cells die, the body loses its ability to produce insulin naturally.

To understand why some species are vulnerable and others are not, Moffet and his students examined organisms that can develop amyloid in the pancreas, including humans, monkeys, and dogs, and those that cannot, such as rats, mice, and pigs. Notably, the latter group does not develop Type 2 diabetes.

What followed was a painstaking, years-long process of testing millions of compounds alongside more than 200 undergraduate researchers across LMU and MSMU. The breakthrough came from an unexpected source: raccoons. "Raccoon IAPP was the first peptide that I was aware of that actually could inhibit human IAPP at a really high level," said Moffet.

From there, Nogaj and her MSMU students tested the peptides on human pancreatic cells in petri dishes, noticing that cells exposed to toxic IAPP died within 24 hours, but remained healthy and robust when introduced to raccoon peptides.

To qualify for a patent, a peptide must be differentiated enough from those found in nature. Of the six to eight highly effective peptides Moffet and Nogaj submitted, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved the raccoon-derived peptide, a hybrid blended with human and chicken amino acids, containing enough human intervention to be considered distinct. "So much work goes into this process, and though not everything was approved, nothing was wasted. We discovered around 30 effective peptides along the way, and we are thrilled with the one that received a patent," said Moffet.

LMU and MSMU students participated in every stage - from idea generation to concept development to patent application. Backed by four grants from the National Institutes of Health totaling nearly $1.2 million, the team even collaborated with the San Diego Zoo to analyze DNA samples from various organisms. "Students are real scientists here," said Moffet. "It is really rare to have undergrads work on this type of research."

Though the patent is a major milestone, Moffet is already looking ahead to the next phase: testing on animals engineered with human IAPP. But for now, he's allowing himself a moment to reflect on the journey that brought them here.

"It's been a long road to get here, and there were so many steps along the way," Moffet said. "We are ecstatic, excited, and thrilled to get to this point. We are so thankful for the support from LMU and MSMU on this project."