Separation of baculoviruses using molecularly imprinted polymer hydrogels
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Separation of baculoviruses using molecularly imprinted polymer hydrogels
Linden D.V. Bolisay, John F. March, William E. Bentley, and Peter Kofinas Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2111, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
The goal of this research is to develop molecular imprinted polymers (MIP) for biomimetic recognition of viruses. Our experimental results indicate that hydrogels can be produced, which can specifically and selectively bind recombinant baculoviruses. Although it is expected that imprinted cavities will be distorted due to the swelling of the hydrogel in water, our experiments show that even the swollen gels exhibit remarkable affinity toward recombinant baculovirus. The proposed methodologies for the synthesis and characterization of MIPs thus offer exciting avenues for the development of virus recognition techniques. The virus MIPs must function in aqueous environments. Our approach employs a more flexible non-covalent imprinting method, starting from a readily available polyamine polymer, and both MIP synthesis and testing are performed in aqueous solutions. The development of a virus imprinted MIP, which would apply to the identification, classification, and removal of viruses. This is currently a very difficult task, but the need is widespread in diverse sectors, including national security, human and animal health, crop protection, and biologics production. The development of general methods using MIPs capable of specific recognition of biological analytes would have an enormous value in medicine and bioanalytics.
INTRODUCTION
We are aiming to develop molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) which can recognize, and potentially differentiate viruses. Biomimetic recognition of recombinant baculovirus (BV-GFP) has been achieved in experiments using polymers while in their water-swollen state, thus addressing a major problem which has long been associated with this area of research in hydrogels. A virus imprinted MIP would apply in the identification, classification, and removal of viruses. This is currently a very difficult task, but the need is widespread in diverse sectors, including national security, human and animal health, crop protection, and biologics production. The removal of viruses could potentially impact a wide range of diseases. One way to ensure that the production of human biopharmaceuticals is virus-free, is to use virus-specific “sponges”. For example, the removal of hepatitis virus or HIV from the blood supply could be impacted by such MIP technology. While methods of template fixation vary among research groups, the large majority of molecular imprinting studies to date have concentrated on synthesizing imprinted polymers from a monomer, rather than crosslinking an existing polymer having the appropriate functional groups. Typically, polymerizable, functional monomers, capable of non-covalent interactions
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with the template molecule, are mixed in organic solutions with the template and allowed to associate. The virus MIPs mus
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