By Shanzeh Mumtaz Ahmed, RARE Revolution insider
Interview with Dr Sara ten Have, director, Origin Peptides

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Origin Peptides want to revolutionise the peptide market, which according to their director Dr Sara ten Have they are doing via an approach that is “greener, cheaper and faster”

“From bacteria, right up to us—peptides are an integral part of life”

For Dr Sara ten Have, that has been especially true since she started her proteomics PhD in 2004. Over the past decade and a half, Sara has delved deep into the complexities of the peptide, not just as a biologically important molecule, but as a tool for positive change.

Now, the director at Origin Peptides, Sara’s brought something unique—and much needed—to the peptide party. A cleaner, greener method for peptide synthesis.

But what are peptides and what makes them special?

Dr Sara ten Have obtained her BSc in Biochemistry from Macquarie University in 2004. She then went on to complete her PhD in the proteomics of endometriosis at Syndey University in 2007. From there, she worked as a researcher in Germany for a year, followed then by her move to Scotland to work at the University of Dundee. Here, having access to one of the largest mass spectrometry facilities in Europe, she spent 15 years contributing to proteomics research and continues to do so now as a biotechnology entrepreneur.

Peptides 101

Peptides are simply small bits of protein. The difference between a peptide and protein is size and structure.¹ Peptides are generally 2-50 amino acids long whereas proteins tend to be more than 50 amino acids long.¹ Since they’re smaller, peptides tend to be less structured than proteins which typically have more complex conformations.¹

So, proteins are very large peptides; peptides are small bits of protein.¹

Our body is full of proteins doing different important jobs. Often, they interact with other structures in the body to exert their biological effect. The part of the protein that plays an “active” or “interactive” role is small; it’s a peptide.

As the active component, it can be “snipped out” and used as medication. For example, the active ingredient in Ozempic is a peptide, semaglutide, made up of 31 amino acids.²

“The unique thing about treating people with peptides is that you tend to have fewer side effects compared to small molecules,” explains Sara.

Peptides are everywhere; you just need to know where to look

We mentioned Ozempic, but of course, there are plenty of peptides in the pharmaceutical space. Insulin, a peptide hormone³ is another. Other examples include liraglutide (Victoza) and dulaglutide (Trulicity) which are also peptides used to treat Type 2 diabetes.^4,5

But it’s not just pharma that are reliant on peptides.

“There are peptides you can paint on the hulls of ships to prevent barnacles binding,” Sara tells us.⁶ You may have also heard of peptides in your cosmetics or skincare. “You can use them as food additives. You can use them to purify wine. You can use them in agriculture as pesticides and herbicides.”

The journey to Origin Peptides

With so many applications for peptides, it begs the obvious question; why aren’t we doing all of it? Cost is a significant factor—making peptides is an expensive business.

The typical way of creating peptides is with solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). It’s an iterative process where you build a peptide one amino acid at a time. This process takes a lot of time, but also a lot of chemicals and reagents. With this method, the process mass intensity (PMI), a measure of the amount of reagents used vs the amount of product created is between 6,000-30,000 kilograms:1 kilogram⁷.

Not only that, but these chemicals come from fossil fuels and are hazardous to dispose of. That’s where Origin Peptides comes in. “Our PMI is currently about 345 (at lab scale). We’re green, we’re faster, we’re much better for the environment.”

The chicken or the egg?

In scientific circles, you might hear a conversation around DNA vs proteins. What comes first? The DNA that is the blueprint for all the proteins in your body, or the proteins that are needed to open up the DNA, “read” it, and actually build the proteins.

With this in mind, Sara set out to prove her theory—that it really is proteins and peptides that are those initial molecules needed for life. After 12 years of experiments, she managed to do just that.

“It turned out,” says Sara “that peptides can replicate themselves!”

A one pot solution

Knowing this, Sara has created a process that does not need to be iterative.

“It’s a one pot solution. We put in a small amount of peptide that we’re interested in. Add in the necessary amino acids and provide the right conditions for the amplification to occur. The method of synthesis is completely new.”

Instead of using a whole host of dangerous chemicals, Sara’s process is instead water-based. Her goal is to drive pharma towards making this transition towards sustainability and to open up opportunities for peptides to be used for applications they were previously deemed too expensive for.

Implications for rare disease

Peptide technology is a good fit for personalised treatment. To illustrate this, Sara gives the example of peptides made by tumors. When analysing tumors via proteomics, peptides that are specific to an individual’s cancer can be identified. Using that information, a person’s immune system can be primed to target those tumors.

However, with personalised medicine, you need a very large number of samples for it to be sufficiently representative of a specific population; people with colon cancer, for example. This is because there is a lot of variation between individuals and even within the same type of cancer.

There is potential here though. According to Sara, these types of “neo-antigens”, these peptides, have already been used to great success in melanoma⁸ and pancreatic cancer⁹. The goal is to get towards a point where a few key peptides can be identified that are able to trigger a specific anti-cancer reaction within people’s immune systems—like a peptide vaccine.

This has vast potential for application to a personalised approach in rare.

Looking to the future

Origin Peptides is currently working on licencing their technology to pharma companies who are looking to make that transition into sustainability. Sara has received a grant to aid  the manufacture of sustainable medicines and is working hard to develop a scaling her process that can change the way industry uses peptides in the mid- to long-term future.

“My motivations are to do something good for the planet, and hopefully, this can all lead to the development of novel treatments for the people who need them.”

To learn more about how Origin Peptides can help you, you can contact them via their website.

References
[1] What Is the Difference Between a Peptide and a Protein? | Britannica. Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-difference-between-a-peptide-and-a-protein
[2] Is Ozempic a Biologic? Understanding Biologics and Peptides. GoodRx. Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic/is-ozempic-a-biologic
[3] Wilcox G. Insulin and Insulin Resistance. Clin Biochem Rev. 2005;26(2):19-39.
[4] Scheen AJ, Van Gaal LF. [Liraglutide (Victoza): human glucagon-like peptide-1 used in once daily injection for the treatment of type 2 diabetes]. Rev Med Liege. 2010;65(7-8):464-470.
[5] Trulicity (dulaglutide): Uses, Side Effects, Dosage & More – GoodRx. Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.goodrx.com/trulicity/what-is
[6] Saha R, Bhattacharya D, Mukhopadhyay M. Advances in modified antimicrobial peptides as marine antifouling material. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 2022;220:112900. doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2022.112900
[7] Kekessie I et. Al. Process Mass Intensity (PMI): A Holistic Analysis of Current Peptide Manufacturing Processes Informs Sustainability in Peptide Synthesis The Journal of Organic Chemistry 2024 89 (7), 4261-4282 DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c01494
[8] Borgers, J.S.W., Lenkala, D., Kohler, V. et al. Personalized, autologous neoantigen-specific T cell therapy in metastatic melanoma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med 31, 881–893 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03418-4
[9] Rojas, L.A., Sethna, Z., Soares, K.C. et al. Personalized RNA neoantigen vaccines stimulate T cells in pancreatic cancer. Nature 618, 144–150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06063-y

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