Lead Inventor:
Michael P. Sheetz, Ph.D.
Complex Protein Assembly Binding Measured with Spatially Ordered Ligands
There is a need to measure the binding of complex protein assemblies with spatially ordered ligands; for example, transcription activation and receptor activation presumably involve the biding of large protein complexes to ordered arrays of transcription factors ad receptors, respectively.
Because the feature size (2-5nm) is the size of a single protein molecule and the spacing 5-100nm is the size of the protein complex, it is possible to create ordered arrays that have a very high binding specificity assay for certain bacteria that utilize special order to discriminate between closely related species.
Nano-Scale Fabrication Techniques for Investigating Macromolecular Complexes
• The technology describes an invention using nano-scale fabrication techniques to identify spatial binding sites on a protein complex.
• The invention uses common lithography and micropatterning techniques to create a spatially defined, activated surface which can bind peptide ligands.
• The binding site is free to interact with proteins which are present in the solution.
• With this spatially defined surface, the inventors propose to investigate the assembly and function of macromolecular complexes.
Applications:
Identification of:
• Spatial binding sites to understand how complex protein assemblies work.
• Promoter/Enhancer/Inhibitor proteins and their effect on the assembly of transcriptional complexes.
• Position of receptor binding for identifying the mechanism of multimeric receptors which bind more than 1 ligand at a time.
Advantages:
• It allows control over the positioning of the interacting proteins.
• The possibility to estimate kinetics among large samples of protein complexes.
• Less material is needed for assays if Total Internal Reflectance (TIRF) is used, since it has been well shown that TIRF microscopy is able to visualize single molecules.
• It is a new method to discover the spatial dependence of binding within protein complexes.
Opportunity:
STV is actively seeking licensing partner(s) who will develop and market ""Device for Measuring Nanometer Level Pattern-Dependent Binding Reactions"" for pharmaceutical and academic research market.
Patent Status: Patent Pending (US20080003615A1) - see link below.
Licensing Status: Available for Licensing or Sponsored Research Agreement