AUTOMATIC PARALLEL PEPTIDE SYNTHESIZER FOR AIDS VACCINE

本发明涉及一种用于自动多路复用的系统， 生物重要聚合物的平行合成（或测序）。 化学合成的肽，每一种都是从更高级的 沿着先前测序的编码DNA的位置（即，沿着基因） 现在被用来定位抗体所针对的抗原位点或表位， （通过暴露于完整蛋白质产生），或 自身抗体反应。 目的是生产人工肽基 针对HIV和其他致病病毒的疫苗，并鉴定表位 与自身免疫有关 在我们的系统中，一系列连续的反应 是平行进行的，每一个都有一个预编程的氨基酸， 平行加成反应保持分离，以及保持反应的方法。 合成（或切割位点）分离，试剂流准确 分配和分离，单个试剂有效地分割， 通过系统移动小体积的积极方法， 试剂体积保持在最低限度，并采用积极洗涤的方法 不含试剂的附着位点。 该系统所依据的原则 也适用于寡核苷酸的合成， 最终用于氨基酸测序。 拟议的系统可以建立在 微型或制备规模。

This proposal relates to the invention of a system for automatic multiple- parallel synthesis (or sequencing) of biologically important polymers. Chemically synthesized peptides, each of which start at a more advanced position along previously sequenced coding DNA (i.e., walk along the gene) are now being used to locate antigen sites or epitopes to which antibodies (which have been produced by exposure to complete proteins), or autoantibodies react. The aim is to produce artificial peptide-based vaccines against HIV and other pathogenic viruses, and to identify epitopes involved in autoimmunity. In our system, a series of sequential reactions are carried out in parallel, with a preprogrammed amino acid for each parrellel addition reaction kept separate, with methods for keeping the synthesis (or cleavage sites) separate, the reagent streams accurately apportioned and separate, and individual reagents effectively segmented, with positive methods for moving small volumes through the systems, with reagent volumes kept to a minimum, and with methods for positively washing attachment sites free of reagents. The principles on which the system is based are also applicable to the synthesis of oligonucleotides and eventually to amino acid sequencing. The proposed system can be built on either a micro or preparative scale.