SBIR Phase I: Asymmetric Block Copolymer Membranes for Ultrafiltration

SBIR 第一阶段：用于超滤的不对称嵌段共聚物膜

• 批准号: 1315527
• 负责人: Rachel Dorin
• 金额: $ 14.99万
• 依托单位: TeraPore Technologies, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1315527&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Asymmetric; Block; Copolymer

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses separation needs of biopharmaceutical manufacturers by developing novel membranes with exceptional performance. Currently available membranes used to separate therapeutic proteins suffer from broad pore size variations, resulting in additional expensive processing steps to the separations. TeraPore's patented membrane technology enables the production of high throughput membranes with uniform pores with sizes targeted to proteins used in medicine, resulting in cheaper, more efficient separations. Customer needs in this industry are dependent on the specific molecules being separated, requiring a suite of membranes with tunable and reproducible pore sizes. This feasibility study will show that changing the molecular structure of the polymers used to make the membranes can control this pore size effectively. The outcome of this research will allow TeraPore to make a variety of membrane products and specifically design polymers that results in membranes that address specific customer needs. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes the production of high margin membrane products that will significantly improve efficiency in the processing of therapeutic biomolecules. The US market for membrane technology in biopharmaceutical processing was $2.4B in 2011 and is growing at a rate of over 10%. Given the performance advances possible with TeraPore's membranes, the company intends to enter the marketplace through the biopharmaceutical processing market through separation/purification applications involving high value, high margin biopharma products processed by TeraPore's membranes.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目通过开发具有卓越性能的新型膜来满足生物制药制造商的分离需求。目前用于分离治疗性蛋白质的膜存在孔径变化大的问题，导致分离过程中额外的昂贵处理步骤。TeraPore的专利膜技术能够生产具有统一孔径的高通量膜，膜的大小针对用于医药的蛋白质，从而实现更便宜、更高效的分离。该行业的客户需求取决于所分离的特定分子，这就需要一套具有可调节和可重复孔径的膜。这项可行性研究将表明，改变用于制膜的聚合物的分子结构可以有效地控制这种孔径。这项研究的结果将使TeraPore能够制造各种薄膜产品，并专门设计聚合物，以产生满足特定客户需求的薄膜。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括生产高利润率的膜产品，这些产品将显著提高治疗性生物分子的加工效率。2011年，美国生物制药加工中的膜技术市场规模为24亿美元，并且正在以超过10%的速度增长。鉴于TeraPore膜可能带来的性能提升，该公司打算通过涉及TeraPore膜加工的高价值、高利润率生物制药产品的分离/提纯应用，通过生物制药加工市场进入市场。