14 DAY TRIAL // A group of scientists from the Duke University has recently been able to develop a new method for preserving proteins, which relies on the small molecules being turned into glass. The investigators in the group say that the approach guarantees that the properties the proteins have upon being turned to glass are maintained throughout the transformation process. The amazing accomplishment could in the near future be used to produce more effective protein-reliant drugs.
At this point, in order to deliver these proteins where they are needed, drugs have to include a frozen dry powder of the molecules. This is the only known way to preserve them, but turning them into glass may be a lot more easy and effective, the Duke team says. According to the leader of the study group, engineer and chemist David Needham, the “glassification” process relies on conducting molecular water surgery on the proteins. This means that every single molecules of water is extracted into a special solvent, leaving behind a dehydrated protein.
“It's like a sponge sucking water off a counter,” Needham explains. The expert is also a DU Pratt School of Engineering professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences. He and his colleagues have already founded a new start-up, called Biogyali, which aims to develop and eventually capitalize on the new technology. The name of the company comes from the Greek word for glass, “gyali.” A patent is already pending for a method to extract all the water from the proteins while at room temperature.
If this becomes possible, then the investigators will be able to create new forms of storing and delivering proteins, potentially generating advancements in the pharmaceutical industry, and in the way the drugs themselves are produced. The work was made possible with a grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling about $ 1 million. Details of the research appear in the latest online issue of the respected Biophysical Journal. The paper was authored by Needham, graduate student Deborah Rickard and former graduate student P. Brent Duncan.