Elastin-Like Polypeptides: Bio-Inspired Smart Polymers for Protein Purification, Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering

Elastin-Like Polypeptides (ELPs) have several interesting properties that are relevant to their use in biotechnology and medicine. ELPs have several interesting properties that are relevant to their use in biotechnology and medicine. First, ELPs exhibit reversible phase transition behavior, such that they are soluble below a particular temperature, their 'transition temperature' (Tt) or cloud point and are insoluble above it. In addition to their thermal responsiveness, ELPs have the advantage of being recombinant polypeptides that can be expressed at high yield in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and easily purified by their phase behavior by a nonchromatographic process. This also allows them to be produced as monodisperse polymers, polydispersity index of 1.0, that cannot be matched by any synthetic polymer. These properties of ELPs make them attractive for a variety of applications, including facilitating recombinant protein purification and delivery, improving the pharmacokinetics of small molecule and peptide drugs and providing scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Duke Scholars

Author Ashutosh Chilkoti Biomedical Engineering