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New polymers for molecular biotechnology
Reviews in Molecular Biotechnology 90 Ž2002. 1᎐2
Editorial
New polymers for molecular biotechnology
It is not easy to approach the interdisciplinary field between modern polymer science and high end molecular biotechnology. In the last few years, both scientific communities have explored breath-taking, rapid developments and it is hard to keep an eye on a different subject when you are occupied with keeping up with your own field. This is why, in this issue, some experts in polymer science try to present what they think are some of the most promising developments in polymer science with relevance for biotechnology. This has to be regarded as an offer, a definition of an interface, without knowing if the other side really speaks the same language and feels driven by the same problems. It is my strong opinion that this is the only way to create mutual benefit: by trading knowledge over the borderlines of the classical, usually well-separated fields. I am sure that curious things can happen to us beyond the border, but smiling about our fashions is something we can deal with. A nice metaphor for this is the contribution of Tirelli et al. by scientists who are used to working with polymers in biomedical applications. Here, a specially constructed functional polymer bridges the worlds of purely synthetic polymer materials and proteinsrcells. This is done by the synthesis of ‘molecular chimeras’, polymers which contain both synthetic and peptide blocks and units, and therefore, speak ‘both languages’. I expect that this principle will gain more importance in molecular biotechnology, since the biological function of natural building blocks is combined with the advantages of polymers, creating superior dissolu-
tion behavior, coating properties, melt processability, or simply higher stability. A similar cross-over is desired by Nardin and Meier, who have translated the well-known and heavily used structural concept of lipid vesicles to something more durable; namely, vesicles of amphiphilic block co-polymers which even can be cross-linked. Those vesicles have similar properties as lipid vesicles, but are inert against biological or chemical degradation, and live ᎏ on demand ᎏ longer than the application they are desired for. They neither stimulate phagocytosis nor passive protein adsorption. The best and absolutely unexpected fact is that genetically overexpressed and isolated porins or other membrane proteins seem to show full operation in this new and non-biological environment. Well, think about the possibilities for a hybrid biotechnology . . . . The contribution by Hentze and Antonietti adds to the structural skills and abilities of polymer science on larger length-scales by reviewing current possibilities to create well-defined porous polymer scaffolds. Porous polymer structures are omnipresent in biosystems Žtissue, bone, cells.; they provide mechanical stability to a system, while simultaneously allowing for high liquid mass flows. It is, thus, evident that such systems are or might become a prerequisite for a whole number of bio-oriented technologies, starting from tissue engineering over the immobilized cell reactor up to separation technologies for complex biomolecules and vectors. The final contribution of Salditt and Schubert
1389-0352r02r$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 8 9 - 0 3 5 2 Ž 0 1 . 0 0 0 7 1 - X
2
Editorial r Re¨ iews in Molecular Biotechnology 90 (2002) 1᎐2
is presumably the one most distant from the application, but underlines the demand for flexible and general solutions to solve structural problems by chemistry on the nanometer scale. Here, scientists try to use the concepts of supra-molecular chemistry to create building blocks which can be ‘pre-fabricated’ and mutually combined to solve a complex task, such as sensing biological functional units. Such sensing does not only rely on advanced chemistry, but also on careful analysis of the nano-sized structures and read-out principles which make such molecular devices functional. It is obvious that there is also a number of trends in polymer science which we were not able to take up in this issue: polymer scaffolds with
shape memory, or new bio-degradable polymers, or lateral polymer surface structures Ž‘patterns’. with bio-functionality, or vectors made of synthetic polymer components, or the new generation of chromatographic beads separating according to biostructural properties, just to name a few. It is our hope to continue the frontier crossing between these fields and to cover some of those topics in a future issue of Re¨ iews in Molecular Biotechnology. Markus Antonietti, Max Planck Institut of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Campus Golm, D-14424 Potsdam, Germany
Editorial
New polymers for molecular biotechnology
It is not easy to approach the interdisciplinary field between modern polymer science and high end molecular biotechnology. In the last few years, both scientific communities have explored breath-taking, rapid developments and it is hard to keep an eye on a different subject when you are occupied with keeping up with your own field. This is why, in this issue, some experts in polymer science try to present what they think are some of the most promising developments in polymer science with relevance for biotechnology. This has to be regarded as an offer, a definition of an interface, without knowing if the other side really speaks the same language and feels driven by the same problems. It is my strong opinion that this is the only way to create mutual benefit: by trading knowledge over the borderlines of the classical, usually well-separated fields. I am sure that curious things can happen to us beyond the border, but smiling about our fashions is something we can deal with. A nice metaphor for this is the contribution of Tirelli et al. by scientists who are used to working with polymers in biomedical applications. Here, a specially constructed functional polymer bridges the worlds of purely synthetic polymer materials and proteinsrcells. This is done by the synthesis of ‘molecular chimeras’, polymers which contain both synthetic and peptide blocks and units, and therefore, speak ‘both languages’. I expect that this principle will gain more importance in molecular biotechnology, since the biological function of natural building blocks is combined with the advantages of polymers, creating superior dissolu-
tion behavior, coating properties, melt processability, or simply higher stability. A similar cross-over is desired by Nardin and Meier, who have translated the well-known and heavily used structural concept of lipid vesicles to something more durable; namely, vesicles of amphiphilic block co-polymers which even can be cross-linked. Those vesicles have similar properties as lipid vesicles, but are inert against biological or chemical degradation, and live ᎏ on demand ᎏ longer than the application they are desired for. They neither stimulate phagocytosis nor passive protein adsorption. The best and absolutely unexpected fact is that genetically overexpressed and isolated porins or other membrane proteins seem to show full operation in this new and non-biological environment. Well, think about the possibilities for a hybrid biotechnology . . . . The contribution by Hentze and Antonietti adds to the structural skills and abilities of polymer science on larger length-scales by reviewing current possibilities to create well-defined porous polymer scaffolds. Porous polymer structures are omnipresent in biosystems Žtissue, bone, cells.; they provide mechanical stability to a system, while simultaneously allowing for high liquid mass flows. It is, thus, evident that such systems are or might become a prerequisite for a whole number of bio-oriented technologies, starting from tissue engineering over the immobilized cell reactor up to separation technologies for complex biomolecules and vectors. The final contribution of Salditt and Schubert
1389-0352r02r$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 8 9 - 0 3 5 2 Ž 0 1 . 0 0 0 7 1 - X
2
Editorial r Re¨ iews in Molecular Biotechnology 90 (2002) 1᎐2
is presumably the one most distant from the application, but underlines the demand for flexible and general solutions to solve structural problems by chemistry on the nanometer scale. Here, scientists try to use the concepts of supra-molecular chemistry to create building blocks which can be ‘pre-fabricated’ and mutually combined to solve a complex task, such as sensing biological functional units. Such sensing does not only rely on advanced chemistry, but also on careful analysis of the nano-sized structures and read-out principles which make such molecular devices functional. It is obvious that there is also a number of trends in polymer science which we were not able to take up in this issue: polymer scaffolds with
shape memory, or new bio-degradable polymers, or lateral polymer surface structures Ž‘patterns’. with bio-functionality, or vectors made of synthetic polymer components, or the new generation of chromatographic beads separating according to biostructural properties, just to name a few. It is our hope to continue the frontier crossing between these fields and to cover some of those topics in a future issue of Re¨ iews in Molecular Biotechnology. Markus Antonietti, Max Planck Institut of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Campus Golm, D-14424 Potsdam, Germany