Stable And More Durable Fluorinated Proteins Developed
- Shreyas Sule for CrazyEngineers.com July 5th, 2011
- Source: http://www.crazyengineers.com/stable-and-more-durable-fluorinated-proteins-developed-557/
Proteins that are comparable with Teflon polymer in terms of stability and durability have been created. Recently, scientists at New York University Polytechnic have devised a process that makes fluorinated proteins more stable and durable even at extreme limits. NYU-Poly Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Sciences Jin Montclare and Peter Baker have successfully demonstrated the modification of existing fluorinated proteins with the help of bacteria. This resulted into the formation of proteins that could sustain temperatures up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
The researchers have followed the footprints of their senior, NYU-Poly alumni John Gilbert. The efforts taken by him to evaluate Teflon about 50 years ago, a newly developed polymer then, led to its successful application of fluorinated polymer as a coating for the utensils. Montclare and Baker plan to take the same route in creating better proteins by delving more on fluorinated proteins. The findings were announced in the current issue of ChemBioChem. The proteins developed by them are less susceptible to denaturation than the existing proteins. When the proteins undergo denaturation, their structure is lost due to some external stress, compounds, or heat. The simplest example is the change in the structure of egg while heating it to make an omelet.