New method of integrating synthetic and biological polymers

Invention 14078

New method of integrating synthetic and biological polymers

A simple and versatile method of producing DNA-polymer conjugates has been developed at McGill University.

Market Need

Beyond the basic biological functions of DNA, nucleic acids can be used as polymers for the construction of nanoscale objects and the detection of proteins or small molecules. In many therapeutic functions, however, biological polymers are limited by their very specific building blocks and instability in extreme chemical conditions. Synthetic polymers, on the other hand, do not have as many physical constraints, but are not able to integrate as easily with biological systems. Ideally, the structural flexibility of synthetic polymers could be combined with the functional flexibility of biological polymers. The ability to synthesize polymers with the folding and replicative abilities of biological polymers, however, has remained challenging.

Technology Summary

With this invention, a simple and versatile method has been developed for the synthesis of sequence-defined polymers attached to a DNA strand on a solid support. By integrating the robustness of synthetic systems with the coded information derived from biological counterparts, polymer-biopolymer conjugates are believed to be a promising material to integrate biological and synthetic polymers. During this novel process designed by the Sleiman laboratory, DNA-polymer conjugates are synthesized by hydrophilic and hydrophobic units attaching to a DNA strand in high yields with complete control over the sequence in the final structure. As this method is general and uses readily available reagents, there is the potential to make DNA-polymer conjugates and sequence-defined polymers widely available.

Advantages

• Simple and versatile integration of synthetic and biological polymers
• The polymeric modifications to DNA display self-assembly and encapsulation behavior

Patent Status

Filed US