Novel Materials for Nucleic Acid, Protein and Drug Delivery

University of Connecticut
posted on 07/24/2010

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Biomolecule-containing nanoparticles developed for biomedical applications often suffer the drawbacks of decreased enzyme activity or denaturation, especially under high temperature conditions. Prof. Kumar’s team discovered that biomolecules entrapped in inorganic metal carbonate particles are reversibly denatured upon autoclaving and retain their biological activity even after high temperature treatment. High temperature disinfection with retention of activity is a crucial requirement for use of proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids or peptides in biomedical devices, therapeutic implants or chemical reactors. The size range of the particles is easily controlled from microns to nanometers by adjusting the reaction conditions. Furthermore the encapsulating metal carbonate material is non-toxic to biological systems.

Production of the biomolecule/metal carbonate nanoparticles is inexpensive, non-toxic and can be readily scaled-up to produce large quantities using simple methods. These materials can be useful for cell-free synthesis of proteins, in-vivo synthesis of peptides, delivery systems for biological therapies, and enzyme reactors. Use of these materials in high-temperature applications such as energy conversion, biofuel production or biocatalysis can also be envisioned.

-cell-free synthesis of proteins
-in-vivo synthesis of peptides
-delivery systems for biological therapies
-enzyme reactors
-energy conversion
-biofuel production
-biocatalysis

This technology allows high-temperature treatments of the biomass without sacrifice their biological activity.