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The molecules could have applications in targeted drug delivery processes, according to research lead Prof Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson.
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have made a major breakthrough in understanding the self-assembly mechanisms of molecules.
In an announcement released today (13 January), it was revealed that the researchers had learned to programme the self-assembly of molecules in a way that is predictable and “desirable”, resulting in the creation of molecules that resemble popular confectionary product Maltesers.
In nature, virtually all components of biological systems demonstrate a precise ability to self-assemble in the exact way they need to in order to produce molecules that allow organisms to survive in changeable environments.
Scientists are still trying to understand how these self-assembly processes are governed, as the ability to accurately reproduce these processes could allow for the programming of molecules to carry out certain functions. According to the Trinity researchers, today’s announcement brings the scientific world one step closer to that realisation.
According to the researchers, their “Malteser molecules” could have a range of applications in the future, such as in highly sensitive sensor technology or “next-gen” targeted drug delivery agents.
“We have been able to make amino-acid-based ‘ligands’ whose self-assembly structures vary – predictably and reproducibly – depending on which amino acid we use,” says first author Aramballi Savyasachi, a former PhD student in Trinity’s School of Chemistry, who is based in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI).
Amino acids are commonly known as the ‘building blocks of life’ as they combine to make proteins.
“Different sequences of amino acids build a huge diversity of different proteins, which have billions of different functions,” explains Savyasachi.
“With that in mind, it is perhaps unsurprising that different amino acids produce different self-assembly results – sometimes giving a soft, gel-like material, and other times giving much harder, ‘Malteser molecules’. What did surprise – and delight – us was the discovery that we can largely govern the process and the outcome by selecting specific amino acids.”
The research was led by Prof Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson, who is based in TBSI, in collaboration with Prof John Boland, based in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices. Both of these groups are based at Trinity’s School of Chemistry and the Amber Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research.
Gunnlaugsson states that there are many potential applications of this work, such as in photonics and optical systems, or in drug delivery applications.
“For example, key enzymes appear in greater numbers when the body is fighting an infection and start to break molecules down,” he says. “The products of this molecular breakdown could stimulate activity in such a way that a drug is released where and when it is needed, which would minimise some of the side effects that come with many, less targeted therapeutics.”
Commenting on the research, University of Cambridge’s Prof Ronan Daly commended the efforts as a “very exciting, highly rigorous piece of work that gives new insights into this molecular-scale control of self-assembly”.
“This helps the whole field move forward by building our understanding and provides a very repeatable and robust way of making these new nanoscale spheres that may one day be used, for example, in the future of drug delivery, flowing around the body and releasing a target drug or gene therapy to the right location.”
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