Reactor for Insect Cell Culture

This fast track STTR application proposes to synthesize structurally defined heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides for biological researchGlycan Therapeutics is a biotech company specializing in synthesizing sulfated carbohydrates using innovative enzyme based methodsThis proposal is focused on the synthesis of large authentic oligosaccharides in the size range ofmers tomersas well as ultra large click oligosaccharides in the size range ofsaccharide residue longA highly experienced research teamincluding DrYongmei XuUniversity of North CarolinaDrRobert LinhardtRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteDrJian LiuUniversity of North Carolinaand DrVijay PagadalaGlycan Therapeuticswill carry out the studyHeparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate are members of the glycosaminoglycan family present in large quantities on mammalian cell surfaces and in the extracellular matrixdisplaying a wide range of biological functionsThis proposal is designed to serve two purposesito develop a reliable and cost effective method to synthesize structurally defined heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides and structurally controlled polysaccharides to support glycoscience researchandiito simplify this technology to allow nonglycoscientists to utilize this technology in a standard biochemistry laboratory settingWe anticipate that this proposal will provide valuable technical advances to glycoscience researchThree specific aims are proposedAimis to synthesize a library of structurally defined heparan sulfate oligosaccharides with a size of up to hexadecasaccharidesmersAimis to develop novel chemoenzymatic methods to synthesize chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharidesAimis to prepare structurally controlled click heparan sulfates and chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides The purpose of this supplementary application is to request funding to purchase a bioreactor systemThis instrument will be utilized to grow insect cells to produce both heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate biosynthetic enzymes for the enzymatic synthesis of both heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharidesThe new bioreactor will increase our enzyme production capability byfoldallowing us to complete the proposed synthesis