Title : Commercializing university based research Self assembled nanomaterials for fighting COVID 19 inhibiting infection, killing cancer, and regenerating tissues
Abstract:
Nanotechnology is now found in almost every aspect in life, from the liposomes that carry vaccines for COVID-19 to coatings placed on floors to reduce wear. Over the past 20 years, the use of nanotechnology in medicine has grown from the unknown to now significantly helping to prevent, diagnosis, and treat numerous diseases. Self-assembled materials have been synthesized using standard organic chemistry methods. All materials have been studied for their ability to attach to viruses (such as SARS-CoV-2) to keep the virus from replicating. Further, such materials have been used to fight infection, inhibit cancer cell growth, and improve tissue growth using standard in vivo and in vitro methods. For the self-assembled nanomaterials, one type of self-assembled nanomaterial composed of DNA base pairs has been the focus of our efforts to functionalize with specific peptides suitable for attaching to SARS-CoV-2 and all of its known variants. After binding to SARS-CoV-2, the self-assembled molecule inhibits SARS-CoV-2 binding to and entering mammalian cells keeping it from replicating. Moreover, these unique self-assembled nanomaterials have been functionalized with peptides to attach to and penetrate to kill gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Further, these self-assembled nanomaterials were functionalized with peptides to attach to and kill cancer cells. Lastly, significant effort has been spent to functionalize these self-assembled nanomaterials with peptides to promote bone, cartilage, vascular, skin and other tissue growth. In vitro and in vivo studies will be presented as well as lessons learned trying to commercialize university-based research into real commercial products.
