Medical applications proteins

In some technological and medical applications protein adsorption and/or cell adhesion is advantageous, but in others it is detrimental. In bioreactors it is stimulated to obtain favourable production conditions. In contrast, biofilm formation may cause contamination problems in water purification systems, in food processing equipment and on kitchen tools. Similarly, bacterial adhesion on synthetic materials used for e.g. artificial organs and prostheses, catheters, blood bags, etc., may cause severe infections. Furthermore, biofilms on heat exchangers, filters, separation membranes, and also on ship hulls oppose heat and mass transfer and increase frictional resistance. These consequences clearly result in decreased production rates and increased costs. 

There are very many papers in the literature that address some aspect of gold nanospheres. In particular, their plasmon response (see Section 7.3.1.1) has been well studied, as has their agglomeration [50-52] and the manner in which they can be assembled into highly ordered colloidal crystals [50, 53, 54]. The latter are interesting and will be further discussed in Section 7.3.8.2. Conjugation of gold nanospheres with proteins and antibodies, for use as a stain in microscopy [55] or possibly, in medical applications [23], is another rich field. 

D.J. Cahill, Protein and antibody arrays and their medical applications. J. Immunol. Methods 250, 81-91 (2001). 

In this review, we focus on the use of plant tissue culture to produce foreign proteins that have direct commercial or medical applications. The development of large-scale plant tissue culture systems for the production of biopharmaceutical proteins requires efficient, high-level expression of stable, biologically active products. To minimize the cost of protein recovery and purification, it is preferable that the expression system releases the product in a form that can be harvested from the culture medium. In addition, the relevant bioprocessing issues associated with bioreactor culture of plant cells and tissues must be addressed. 

In our opinion, the production of recombinant proteins for technical and medical applications should fulfill two main prerequisites. First, it should be possible to produce... 

TIRF has been used to study equilibrium adsorption of proteins to artificial surfaces both to learn about the surface properties of various biomaterials that have medical applications and also to test the TIRF technique itself. 

Hodges RS. De novo design of alpha-heUcal proteins basic research to medical applications. Biochem Cell Biol 1996 74 133-154. 

Nanotechnology offers the promise of specific targeting in medicine because its size is on the same scale as cells and proteins it needs to find. Instead of flooding the body with medication, medical applications of nanotechnology zooms in on the problem areas. Nanotechnology seeks to hunt down the bad guys while leaving the peaceful population alone. 

The area of natural adhesives has progressed enormously in recent years, spanning from medical applications, particularly in dentistry, to everyday articles, such as shoes. Byssus, from mytilids, has great strength and elasticity deriving from a polyphenolic proteic stmcture (Waite 1998). Proteins secreted by oyster pearls also form highly strong threads (Yamamoto 1995). 

IGF is a polypeptide of 70 amino acids, with three disulfide bonds and a molar mass of 7.6 kDa. Its therapeutic use is still under study and future medical applications for this protein are likely to be the treatment of dwarfism, diabetes type 2, and renal diseases, among others. 

This chapter is divided into two sections. Section 6.1 is concerned with applications of Raman spectroscopy to biochemistry. Related topics to this section are found in Section 3.3.3 of Chapter 3 (SER spectra of dipeptides) and Section 4.1.2 of Chapter 4 (Raman (RR) spectra of peptides, proteins, porphyrins, enzymes and nucleic acids), Section 6.2 describes medical applications of Raman spectroscopy as analytical and diagnostic tools. In contrast to biochemical samples discussed in the former section, medical samples in the latter section contain a number of components such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids, etc. Thus, Raman spectra of medical samples are much more complex and must be interpreted with caution. 

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