A pair of unrelated developments across two continents illustrate the continues steady movement of nanotech innovations toward commercialization. The U.K.’s Oxford Nanopore University Technologies Ltd inked an exclusive license agreement to develop technology developed at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the labs of David Deamer, PhD, professor emeritus of chemistry, and Mark Akeson, PhD, adjunct associate professor of biomolecular engineering and co-director of UCSC’s Biophysics Laboratory. The technology uses protein nanopores to analyze DNA molecules. Applications of the platform include single-molecule DNA sequencing and molecular sensing. The license follows a similar agreement between Oxford Nanopore and Harvard University to in-license a broad range of nanopore technologies that include additional discoveries from UCSC. The company also holds agreements covering nanopore science with the University of Oxford, U.K., Texas A&M, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Advancement of the technology is expected to benefit basic medical research and further the field of personalized medicine. The company’s first generation of nanopore sequencing, using its proprietary BASE technology, is poised to be the first label-free DNA sequencing system. BASE sequencing combines a biological nanopore with a processive enzyme arrayed on a silicon chip. Future generations of nanopore sequencing technologies may use solid-state nanopores or may analyze single stranded nucleic acids. Avoiding the use of chemical labels and optical equipment to provide a direct electrical readout that identifies DNA bases is expected to offer a dramatic improvement in sequencing speed while reducing cost. “A label-free approach to DNA sequencing would facilitate a transformation in genomics that could be likened to the broadband revolution,” says Dr. Gordon Sanghera, the company’s CEO.
In the second nano-related development, Johns Hopkins University researchers created biodegradable nano-sized particles that can easily slip through the body’s sticky and viscous mucus secretions to deliver a sustained-release medication cargo. The researchers say these nanoparticles, which degrade over time into harmless components, could one day carry life-saving drugs to patients suffering from dozens of health conditions, including diseases of the eye, lung, gut, or female reproductive tract. The mucus-penetrating biodegradable nanoparticles were developed by an interdisciplinary team led by Justin Hanes, PhD, formerly a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in JHU’s Whiting School of Engineering and now a professor in the department of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The biodegradable particles comprise two parts made of molecules routinely used in existing medications. An inner core, composed largely of polysebacic acid, or PSA, traps therapeutic agents inside. A particularly dense outer coating of polyethylene glycol, or PEG, molecules, which are linked to PSA, allows a particle to move through mucus nearly as easily as if it were moving through water and also permits the drug to remain in contact with affected tissues for an extended period of time.
The nanoparticles could be an ideal means of delivering drugs to people with cystic fibrosis, a disease that kills children and adults by altering the mucus barriers in the lung and gut, according to the researchers. The nanoparticles also could be used to help treat disorders such as lung and cervical cancer and inflammation of the sinuses, eyes, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. In proof-of-concept experiments, previous research teams led by Hanes demonstrated that latex particles coated with polyethylene glycol could slip past mucus coatings. In a new study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe how they took an important step forward in developing particles that biodegrade into harmless components while delivering their drug payload over time. The technology is protected by patents managed by the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office and is licensed exclusively by Kala Pharmaceuticals, a start-up company in which Justin Hanes is a paid consultant and board member.
Sources: Nanotechwire.com and The JHU Gazette