| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/T19773/01 |
| Title: |
Peptide Functional Stimuli Responsive Hyperbranched Polymers |
| Principal Investigator: |
Rimmer, Professor S |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Chemistry |
| Organisation: |
University of Sheffield |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 September 2004 |
Ends: |
31 August 2007 |
Value (£): |
255,009
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Chemical Biology |
Chemical Synthetic Methodology |
| Materials Characterisation |
Materials Synthesis & Growth |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Food and Drink |
Healthcare |
| Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The project will apply recent observations of the critical solution behaviour of hiyperbranched polymers in aqueous media following binding to proteins. The polymers, which are based on the N-isopropyl acrylamide motif, are soluble due to the large number of chain ends. These chain ends allow the polymer chains to explore larger free volumes than comparable linear polymers and this has the effect of increasing the entropy of mixing. However, binding reduces the degrees of freedom that the chain possesses, thus the entropy of mixing decreases and the polymer/protein complex passes through a coil-to-globule transition. This effect can be detected by observing the lumiescence of labelled polymers. Thus the binding event can be sensed by a change in polymer luminescence. The project will advance this work by applying these results to the binding of species present on cell surfaces. Peptide polymers will be prepared that are known to interact with integrins on mammalian cells. In this project we will develop this method by preparing polymers with peptides containing the RGD motif and that have variable polymer composition and degrees of branching. These new materials will eventually be used to probe the chemistry of cell surfaces and provide new insight into the underlying biochemistry of cellular surfaces.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.shef.ac.uk |