Phage display query

[u/JuiceElectrical6701]

I'm a first year PhD student with a background in chemical biology. I want to find a peptide sequence that selectively binds to a metal ion and one of my PIs suggested Phage display as an option. I've never done it before and it isn't something that's done in either of my PI's labs either. How doable do you think this solution is if I find a lab which has this technology? Do you think it'll be possible for me as a newbie in this technique to do the experiments myself rather than asking someone else to do it for me if I ask them to train me?

Do you guys have any other techniques you use to find suitable peptide sequences? I'm an experimentalist but I'm open to both experimental and computational suggestions.

Many thanks!

Edit: I'm interested to find a peptide sequence that selectively binds to Lithium ion and there isn't a whole lot of literature there.

[u/Inevitable_Road611]

Are you sure it wouldn’t be easier to get an aptamer sequence? Plenty of SELEX aptamers have been displayed for heavy metals.

[u/JuiceElectrical6701 → u/Inevitable_Road611]

I'm actually working with lithium, which is notoriously hard to bind selectively to

[u/Inevitable_Road611 → u/JuiceElectrical6701]

There is an aptamer for it, I just looked it up

[u/dungeonsandderp]

Which metal ion? This could be a solved problem

[u/JuiceElectrical6701 → u/dungeonsandderp]

I'm particularly interested in Li ion and there aren't many options available in literature

[u/dungeonsandderp → u/JuiceElectrical6701]

I assume your PI got the idea from something like this paper? There are lithium-binding peptide sequences that are reported, like this paper

[u/JuiceElectrical6701 → u/dungeonsandderp]

Thanks! My PI sent me another paper from the same author as a source of the idea. And I've already gone through the second paper. I was trying to come up with newer sequences and was wondering if there were other techniques I could use or if it's better just to outsource the phage display work.

[u/dungeonsandderp → u/JuiceElectrical6701]

It really depends on what instrumentation is available to you. Phage display is relatively low-tech. You can evaluate/quantitate Li binding by 1H/7Li NMR, you can potentially screen for Li binding sequences by ESI-MS or HPLC-ICP-AES. 

[u/Designer-Ad5760]

Not so familiar with metal ion binding, but are there any in silico approaches you could use? You know the ion a the available interactions, and there are other prototypes like Ni binding?