This award by the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research to Ohio State University is focused on a fundamental surface science question, yet has the potential to produce new bioinspired materials for therapeutic delivery, cryogenic preservation of tissues and organs and stabilization of sensitive bioactive molecules. The discovery of an efficient tissue and organ cryoprotectant would serve a major medical need, allowing longer term storage of organs for transplant. Furthermore, while considerable biomedical research to develop new therapeutics, many of these reagents (biologics, liposomes) must be administered intravenously and can't be stored as a powder or at room temperature. This greatly limits their application in developing countries where modern cold storage facilities are not widely available or reliable. The production of a trehalose biomaterial that could stabilize sensitive pharmaceuticals to a wide range of environmental conditions (heat, low hydration, freeze-dried state) would be of tremendous benefit to communities in developing countries. This expansion of the reach of modern therapeutics could have a deep and lasting impact on many societies outside the first world.
A long term goal of the proposed research program is the elucidation of assembly and biophysical properties of trehalose-derived amphiphiles. The objective of this application is to ascertain the structural determinants of trehalose anhydrobiotic protection. Assemblies will be synthesized and characterized that use trehalose as the hydrophilic component of lipid and polymer amphiphilic systems. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that synthetic assemblies that surface display trehalose will exhibit remarkable stability under anhydrobiotic conditions. The rationale for this hypothesis is based on the finding that synthetic trehalose-functionalized lipids and lipid-polymers can protect lipid bilayers against air-drying and freeze-drying in the context of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) and vesicular bilayers. These new trehalose materials are predicted to exhibit function beyond simple amphiphilic assembly, conferring the anhydrobiotic and cryogenic protective properties of trehalose to the synthetic material. In the course of this project, students at the undergraduate and graduate levels will be trained in chemical synthesis and materials characterization, and preparing them to enter the workforce in chemical and engineering sciences with experience working with novel materials.
