| United States Patent | 5,808,012 |
| Donofrio, et. al. | Sept. 15, 1998 |
Thermoplastics interdispersed with a variety of functional thermostable proteins and methods for their production are provided. To prepare the subject thermoplastics, a plastic material is contacted with a thermostable polypeptide and then subjected to the heating and molding/extrusion/casting process. The resultant thermoplastics comprise the thermostable polypeptide on the formed plastic surface and at a depth below the plastic surface. The thermostable 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® F. The disclosed methods and compositions find use in many applications where plastics containing finctional thermostable proteins are desired, in particular, cell cultureware.
| Inventors: | Donofrio; David M. (Scotts Valley, CA); Stedronsky; Erwin R. (San Clemente, CA). |
| Assignee: | Protein Polymer Technologies, Inc. (San Diego, CA). |
| Appl. No.: | 587,333 |
| Filed: | Jan. 16, 1996 |
| Continuation-in-part of Ser No. 89,862, Jul. 9, 1993, Pat. No. 5,723,588. |
| Intl. Cl. : | C07K 17/04, C07K 17/08 |
| Current U.S. Cl.: | 530/815; 525/54.1 |
| Field of Search: | 530/815; 525/54.1 |
| 4,617,271 | Oct., 1986 | Nambu | 435/182 |
| 57-108010 | Jul., 1982 | JP |
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Primary Examiner: Railey, II; Johnny F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Trecartin; Richard F., Kresnak; Mark
T. Flehr Hohbach Test Albritton and Herbert
