Patent attributes
The stabilization of biomaterials such as proteins in a nominally dry, hydrophilic glassy matrix is vastly improved by the addition of an appropriate amount of a small-molecule pasticizer such as a glycol or DMSO to the formulation, while maintaining a glass transition temperature (Tg) that is above the storage temperature. By plasticizing the glasses, their ability to preserve proteins is improved by as much as 100 times over the unplasticized glass at room temperature. The plasticizer confers the greatest beneficial effect when it is dynamically coupled into the bulk glass, and this coupling occurs over a fairly narrow range of plasticizer concentration. Methods are described in which a small-molecule plasticizer can be incorporated into a glass made of much larger molecules (e.g. a polymeric glass), with desired dynamic coupling, via a molecule that is believed to act as a dynamic linker. Protein preservation data was obtained from two enzymes, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH).
