| PPTI: United States Patent | 5,723,588 |
| Donofrio, et. al. | Mar. 3, 1998 |
| Inventors: | Donofrio; David M. (Scotts Valley, CA); Stedronsky; Erwin R. (La Jolla, CA). |
| Assignee: | Protein Polymer Technologies, Inc. (San Diego, CA). |
| Appl. No.: | 89,862 |
| Filed: | Jul. 9, 1993 |
| Continuation-in-part of Ser No. 609,716, Nov. 6, 1990, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 269,429, Nov. 9, 1988, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 114,618, Oct. 29, 1987, Pat. No. 5,243,038, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 927,298, Nov. 4, 1986, abandoned. |
| Intl. Cl. : | C07K 17/04, C07K 17/08 |
| Current U.S. Cl.: | 530/815 |
| Field of Search: | 530/815, 817, 810, 812; 424/419, 486, 487; 525/54.1 |
| 4,617,271 | Oct., 1986 | Nambu | 435/180 |
| 57-108010 | Jul., 1982 | JP |
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Primary Examiner: Fleisher; Mindy B.
Assistant Examiner: Vogel; Nancy T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rowland; Bertram I.
Thermoplastics interdispersed with a variety of functional thermostable polypeptides, including proteins, and methods of making such thermoplastics are provided. The disclosure demonstrates that certain polypeptides can retain functional activity through exposure to plastic thermomolding. The polypeptides are exposed to the heating and molding/extrusion/casting process and are hence present on the formed plastic surface and at a depth below the plastic surface. The polypeptides contained in the disclosed compositions retain functional properties or binding specificities through the heating and molding/extrusion/casting processes. Preferred thermostable polypeptides used in the disclosed compositions include silk-like protein polymers, particularly ProNectin.RTM.F. The disclosed methods and compositions find use in many applications where plastics containing functional thermostable polypeptides are desired, in particular, cell cultureware.
