Rational design of peptide affinity ligands for the purification of therapeutic enzymes.

Non-mAb biologics represent a growing class of therapeutics under clinical development. Although affinity chromatography is a potentially attractive approach for purification, the development of platform technologies, such as Protein A for mAbs, has been challenging due to the inherent chemical and structural diversity of these molecules. Here, we present our studies on the rapid development of peptide affinity ligands for the purification of biologics using a prototypical enzyme therapeutic in clinical use. Employing a suite of de novo rational and combinatorial design strategies we designed and screened a library of peptides on microarray platforms for their ability to bind to the target with high affinity and selectivity in cell culture fluid. Lead peptides were evaluated on resin in batch conditions and compared with a commercially available resin to evaluate their efficacy. Two lead candidates identified from microarray studies provided high binding capacity to the target while demonstrating high selectivity against culture contaminants and product variants compared to a commercial resin system. These findings provide a proof-of-concept for developing affinity peptide-based bioseparations processes for a target biologic. Peptide affinity ligand design and screening approaches presented in this work can also be easily translated to other biologics of interest. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 34:987-998, 2018.

Molecular Architecture of the Blood Brain Barrier Tight Junction Proteins--A Synergistic Computational and In Vitro Approach.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) constituted by claudin-5 tight junctions is critical in maintaining the homeostasis of the central nervous system, but this highly selective molecular interface is an impediment for therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative and neurological diseases. Therapeutic strategies that can exploit the paracellular transport remain elusive due to lack of molecular insights of the tight junction assembly. This study focuses on analyzing the membrane driven cis interactions of claudin-5 proteins in the formation of the BBB tight junctions. We have adopted a synergistic approach employing in silico multiscale dynamics and in vitro cross-linking experiments to study the claudin-5 interactions. Long time scale simulations of claudin-5 monomers, in seven different lipid compositions, show formation of cis dimers that subsequently aggregate into strands. In vitro formaldehyde cross-linking studies also conclusively show that cis-interacting claudin-5 dimers cross-link with short methylene spacers. Using this synergistic approach, we have identified five unique dimer interfaces in our simulations that correlate with the cross-linking experiments, four of which are mediated by transmembrane (TM) helices and the other mediated by extracellular loops (ECL). Potential of mean force calculations of these five dimers revealed that the TM mediated interfaces, which can have distinctive leucine zipper interactions in some cases, are more stable than the ECL mediated interface. Additionally, simulations show that claudin-5 dimerization is significantly influenced by the lipid microenvironment. This study captures the fundamental interactions responsible for the BBB tight junction assembly and offers a framework for extending this work to other tight junctions found in the body.

Design and fabrication of human skin by three-dimensional bioprinting.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, a flexible automated on-demand platform for the free-form fabrication of complex living architectures, is a novel approach for the design and engineering of human organs and tissues. Here, we demonstrate the potential of 3D bioprinting for tissue engineering using human skin as a prototypical example. Keratinocytes and fibroblasts were used as constituent cells to represent the epidermis and dermis, and collagen was used to represent the dermal matrix of the skin. Preliminary studies were conducted to optimize printing parameters for maximum cell viability as well as for the optimization of cell densities in the epidermis and dermis to mimic physiologically relevant attributes of human skin. Printed 3D constructs were cultured in submerged media conditions followed by exposure of the epidermal layer to the air-liquid interface to promote maturation and stratification. Histology and immunofluorescence characterization demonstrated that 3D printed skin tissue was morphologically and biologically representative of in vivo human skin tissue. In comparison with traditional methods for skin engineering, 3D bioprinting offers several advantages in terms of shape- and form retention, flexibility, reproducibility, and high culture throughput. It has a broad range of applications in transdermal and topical formulation discovery, dermal toxicity studies, and in designing autologous grafts for wound healing. The proof-of-concept studies presented here can be further extended for enhancing the complexity of the skin model via the incorporation of secondary and adnexal structures or the inclusion of diseased cells to serve as a model for studying the pathophysiology of skin diseases.