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UT scientists develop degradable polymer

Written by Johnathan Silver, The Shorthorn staff

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 08:06 PM

Cancer cells can run but they can’t hide from university researchers’ newly developed biomaterials.

Bioengineers, working with UT-Southwestern scientists, created fluorescent and biodegradable polymers to illuminate cancer sites and have drugs sent directly to kill them. Previous polymers weren’t biodegradable. Polymers are chemical compounds or mixtures of two or more molecules. They are injected into the body to combat diseases on a cellular level.

“Once the mission is done, they are gone,” said Jian Yang, lead researcher and bioengineering assistant professor. “It is an intriguing phenomenon.”

Biomaterials usually cause medical problems after attacking diseased areas, Yang said. They cause damage and don’t go anywhere. The innovative characteristic in this research is that once biomaterials finish attacking a diseased area, they naturally break themselves down, without harming the body.

In the research, the biomaterials have two functions, Yang said. To carry drugs and kill diseases.

“It’s like a Trojan horse,” he said. “We inject the drug into the body to target the cancer. At night, the drugs come out, attack and kill the diseased area.”

The team initially researched nitric oxide releasing polymers that prevent clots in blood vessels. When they added 20 amino acids, citric acid and octanediol, the biomaterials gained illumination and biodegradable qualities. Amino acids are building blocks of the body’s proteins and octanediol is a chemical compound containing hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

“It was a serendipitous event,” he said. “When we found out what we created, we dropped the original project and started working on biodegradable materials immediately.”

About 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. More than half a million will die this year. Yang and his researchers believe their project can positively influence those figures.

Bioengineering doctoral student Yi Zhang began researching with Yang because he wanted to be part of a potential cancer cure.

“I’m not very scientific,” he said. “But I specifically like working on the tissue engineering side of the research.”

Yang said his goal is to do innovative research and have his students succeed at what he teaches.

“Teamwork is a key for biomedical research because it’s an interdisciplinary field,” he said. “We want different expertise coming together to solve problems.”

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 August 2009 10:28 AM )

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