Engineered sugar-based polymers for advanced biomedical applications**********

先进聚合物材料公司(APM)是一家总部设在昆士兰多瓦尔的公司，生产创新的可生物降解和生物兼容的特种聚合物，以满足制药和医疗领域客户独特的研发需求。人工合成的含糖基聚合物(糖基聚合物)最近在药物输送、通过与糖识别表面基团相互作用过滤细菌(如E.Coli)等方面显示出有趣的潜力，可替代其他聚合物。糖单体和聚合物的合成和提纯中的挑战性问题限制了它们的商业可用性。朱在蒙特雷亚尔大学的团队开发了实验室规模的合成和表征方面的专业知识。这个为期6个月的项目旨在APM与朱的团队在密歇根大学合作，寻找糖共聚物合成中的纯化和可控性问题的解决方案，开发一系列可定制单体和聚合物的合成和表征协议，并扩大合成规模，以满足工业需求。一些与合成放大和生产有关的实验将在APM的实验室进行。加拿大的制药工业在研发和新产品开发方面一直很强大。多年来，加拿大在这一领域的专业知识往往是通过产学研合作发展起来的。这一结果将有助于提高加拿大工业的竞争力，并将以增加商业机会和利润、增加就业和税收的形式带来经济利益。

Advanced Polymer Materials Inc. (APM) is a company based in Dorval, QC, manufactures innovative biodegradable and biocompatible specialty polymers to fill the unique R&D needs of customers in pharmaceutical and medical fields. Synthetic sugar group-bearing polymers (glycopolymers) have recently shown interesting potential as alternative replacements of other polymers in drug delivery, the filtration of bacteria such as E. Coli from water through the interactions with sugar-recognizing surface groups. Challenging issues in the synthesis and purification of glycomonomers and polymers limit their commercial availability. Zhu's group at Université de Montréal developed expertise in laboratory scale synthesis and characterization. This 6-month Engage project is proposed to team up APM with Zhu's group in U de M to find solutions to the purification and controllability issues in glycopolymer synthesis, to develop protocols for the synthesis and characterization of a collection of customizable monomers and polymers, and to enlarge the synthetic scale to meet the industrial requirements. Some experiments related to synthetic scaling-up and production will be done in the labs of APM. Pharmaceutical industry in Canada has been strong in R&D and new product development. Through the years, Canada's expertise in this area has often developed through industry-university collaboration. The results will help to improve the competitive edge of the Canadian industry and will bring economic benefits in the form of increased business opportunities and profits, additional employment and tax revenues.