Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:

• Drug delivery
• Therapeutic potential for inflammatory diseases such as:
  • Reperfusion injury
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Adult respiratory distress syndrome
  • Spetic shock

ADVANTAGES:

• Easily polymerized
• High-purity, stable
• Carry specific biological ligands

ABSTRACT: Carolyn Bertozzi and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have developed a method for creating high-purity, nano-sized polymer particles that display specific biological ligands on their surfaces. The material starts out as a synthetic membrane in the spherical form of a liposome that has self-assembled from monomers. A quick and efficient polymerization by light gives a solid shell. Monomers which bind to pathogens (such as influenza virus) or bind to disease sites in-vivo (inflammed tissue) are incorporated into the self-assembling mixture. The result is a hollow, spherical, polymerized liposome that binds to a biological target and can, in itself, be used as an inhibitor or be used for delivering a drug loaded in its interior. This technology forms the basis for a new class of materials that have great therapeutic potential.

STATUS: US Patents #5,985,852, #5,962,422, #6,235,309, #6,299,897, #6,663,886 and other U.S. and Foreign patents pending

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE SEE:

Spevak W., Foxall C., Charych D., Dasgupta F., Nagy J., "Carbohydrates in an Acidic Multivalent Assembly: Nanomolar P-Selectin Inhibitors," Journal of Medical Chemistry, 1996, 39, 1018-1020.

Charych D., Nagy J., "Artificial Cell Membranes for Diagnostics and Therapeutics", Chemtech, September 1996, 24.

Spevak W., Foxall C., Charych D., Dasgupta F., Nagy J., "Inhibition of Selectin Binding by Polymerized Liposomes Expressing Carbohydrates," Science, 1995.

REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-1056