biotech
Synthetic Heparin From Engineered Enzymes
Filed in archive Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics , Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics , Other Biotechnology News by ruth on February 9, 2006
BlogPicture

Heparin is a commonly used blood anticoagulant used during medical procedures and treatments such as kidney dialysis, heart bypass surgery, stent implantation, indwelling catheters, knee and hip replacements, and deep vein thrombosis. The annual worldwide sales of heparin are estimated at $3 billion. The common injectable form of heparin is derived from pig intestines.

Researchers from the Rensselaer and UNC-Chapel Hill have devised a novel, alternate method of synthesizing heparin using by engineering recently discovered heparin biosynthetic enzymes and co-factor recycling.
"We have synthetically prepared heparin in quantities large enough for use in human medical treatments by engineering recently discovered heparin biosynthetic enzymes," says Robert Linhardt, the Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. '59 Senior constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "These discoveries will enable us to effectively replace a variable raw material - heparin derived from processed animal organs - with a synthetic material - synthetic heparin - and have the same therapeutic result."


Linhardt said they still plan to optimize the process another million-fold to make it commercially viable.

These were published in the Dec 30, 2005 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and again in Jan. 13, 2006 issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication.

Source: Rensselaer NewsPhoto: Rotation of the extended helix of heparin dodecasaccharide sequence by 90 degrees is shown in a space-filling representation with the charged sulfo groups shown as yellow balls with attached oxygen as red balls lying on the outer surface of the molecule. Credit: RPI/Robert Linhardt

Permalink: Synthetic Heparin From Engineered Enzymes
Tags: heparin  enzymes  biotech  synthetic  engineered  synthetic+heparin  engineered+enzymes  novel+antibiotics 
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/15073
img Addthis img Ask img Blinklist img del.icio.us img Digg img Fark img Facebook img Google img Lycos img Ma.gnolia Add this page to Mister Wong Mr Wong img Netscape img Netvousz img Newsvine img Reddit img StumbleUpon img Slashdot img Tailrank img Technorati img Wink img Yahoo

Vote for Synthetic Heparin From Engineered Enzymes:

  • Currently 9.00/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 9.00 out of 3 vote(s) cast.
 
Subscribe
Share It
Popular posts from our other blogs:
RSSrss
See all blog subscribe options
Google google
What is RSS?
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
Newsletter

TwitterFollow us on Twitter!