Molecular Foundry Seminar

"Plastic Antibodies: Recent Advances in Synthetic Receptors for Biological Macromolecules"

Professor Kenneth Shea, Department of Chemisty, UC Irvine,

Tuesday, October 27th at 1:30 pm, Room 67-3111

Abstract:

General methods for the recognition of specific peptide sequences, proteins and related biological macromolecules remain a significant challenge. Such substances have important applications for separations, for use in biosensors and biomedical diagnostics and for the development of therapeutics. The talk will describe general protocols for creating macromolecular receptors for peptides and proteins. Unlike many approaches for protein isolation and purification that employ affinity ligands (i.e. His6 -tag), the current method focuses on capture of native proteins. It utilizes the sequences of exposed epitopes based on known or predicted protein structure.  This method focuses on capture of the peptide sequence of a small portion of the target protein. As such, this approach provides opportunities for the capture of target proteins based only on genomic information. Particular emphasis will be given to recent developments on the synthesis and evaluation of “plastic” antibodies, nanosized synthetic polymer particles with antibody-like affinity for biological macromolecules both in vitro and in vivo.