Enabling Nanomembrane-Based Biomolecule and Nanoparticle Separations

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The global market for nanoparticles (NP) in biotechnology, drug development and drug delivery was estimated to be $20B for 2013 and is expected to reach more than $50B by 2017. The two most active areas of product development are NPs for drug delivery and for in vivo imaging. In these applications it is often critical that he outer surfaces of NPs are functionalized with antibodies (Ab) that target them to specific tissues After functionalizing NPs with Abs, it is necessary to remove unbound Ab from the NP preparation because any free Ab will compete with the NPs for target tissues. Given the similar sizes of Ab (~ 14 nm) and NPs, this ubiquitous clean-up step is challenging and represents a current pain in the market place. Both academic and industrial NP scientists report that existing polymer- based membranes are not capable of performing this separation and that they must resort to more time-consuming, complex, and lower yield techniques such as size-exclusion chromatography or dialysis. Membrane-based methods are preferred because of their simplicity, efficiency and scalability. In this proposal, we will realize a near-term, straight-forward produc development opportunity that will result in a solution to the NP-Ab separation problem. Using SiMPore's nanomembranes in a custom centrifuge configuration, we have recently shown the ability to separate Ab from 20 nm polystyrene particles. Additional innovations in membrane fabrication and non-fouling coatings will allow us to pursue the following goals: 1) to develop and evaluate a SiMPore product prototype based on our preliminary custom centrifuge concept, 2) to produce a sufficient number of prototypes to enable beta- testing at two major life science tool suppliers, and 3) to introduce a validated product upon completion of this 9-month Phase I project.