How do scientists discover new peptides? Genome mining, phage display, mass spectrometry and AI design — an educational guide for researchers, cited throughout.
The Research Edit
GHK-Cu: Fifty Years of a Copper Tripeptide
Research Overview 19 May 2026 11 min read By the OP Labs editorial team It circulates in human plasma right now — a tiny three-amino-acid molecule that researchers believe may play a far larger role than its size would suggest. Illustrative rendering of a copper tripeptide in solution. OP Labs · Research Key facts at […]
NAD+ Halves by 50: What the Research Shows
Cellular Energy 11 min read By the OP Labs editorial team By the age of fifty, research suggests human tissues may hold substantially less NAD+ than at twenty — and scientists are still working out exactly what that means. Abstract visualisation of mitochondrial energy production. OP Labs · Research NAD+ is not a household name, […]
The Sleepless Surgeon Who Started Peptide Science
History 10 min read By the OP Labs editorial team In 1921, a young surgeon with no research funding and a half-formed idea walked into a university laboratory and changed medicine forever. A century of peptide discovery, told through its turning points. OP Labs · Research His name was Frederick Banting. He was not a […]
Why a Protein Folds and a Peptide Doesn’t
Fundamentals 8 min read By the OP Labs editorial team They are all made from the same twenty building blocks — so why do scientists treat them as completely different things? Amino acid, peptide, protein — one continuous chemistry, three behaviours. OP Labs · Research It is a fair question, and a common source of […]
Change One Amino Acid in 40, and the Signal Vanishes
How it Works 11 min read By the OP Labs editorial team Change a single amino acid in a chain of forty, and an active signal becomes entirely inert. A peptide meets its receptor — the moment of recognition. OP Labs · Research That sensitivity is the heart of how peptides work. These molecules are […]
From Cone Snail Venom to the Lab Bench
Origins 11 min read By the OP Labs editorial team One of the most powerful painkillers ever developed came from the venom of a marine snail barely five centimetres long. The cone snail — a five-centimetre fisher of peptides. OP Labs · Research The cone snail is slow, beautiful, and lethal. It hunts fish by […]
What’s a Peptide? The Molecule in the Middle
Beginner’s Guide 8 min read By the OP Labs editorial team Your body produces thousands of distinct peptides — and science is only just beginning to map what they all do. Illustrative rendering of a short peptide chain. OP Labs · Research Some carry messages between cells. Some defend against invading bacteria. Some hold tissue […]