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Biomedical subjects

Moo-Yeal Lee

Publications and source records attributed to Moo-Yeal Lee.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

High-throughput human metabolism and toxicity analysis.

Poor drug candidate safety profiles are often identified late in the drug development process, manifesting themselves in the preclinical and clinical phases and significantly contributing to the high cost and low yield of drug discovery. As a result, new tools are needed to accelerate the assessment of drug candidate toxicity and human metabolism earlier in the drug development process, from primary drug candidate screening to lead optimization. Although high-throughput screens exist for much of the discovery phase of drug development, translating such screening techniques into platforms that can accurately mimic the human in vivo response and predict the impact of drug candidates on human toxicology has proven difficult. Nevertheless, some success has been achieved in recent years, which may ultimately yield widespread acceptance in the pharmaceutical industry.

Animals↗

Metabolizing enzyme toxicology assay chip (MetaChip) for high-throughput microscale toxicity analyses.

The clinical progression of new chemical entities to pharmaceuticals remains hindered by the relatively slow pace of technology development in toxicology and clinical safety evaluation, particularly in vitro approaches, that can be used in the preclinical and early clinical phases of drug development. To alleviate this bottle-neck, we have developed a metabolizing enzyme toxicology assay chip (MetaChip) that combines high-throughput P450 catalysis with cell-based screening on a microscale platform. The MetaChip concept is demonstrated by using sol-gel encapsulated P450s to activate the prodrug cyclophosphamide, which is the major constituent of the anticancer drug Cytoxan, as well as other compounds that are activated by P450 metabolism. The MetaChip provides a high-throughput microscale alternative to currently used in vitro methods for human metabolism and toxicology screening based on liver slices, cultured human hepatocytes, purified microsomal preparations, or isolated and purified P450s. This technology creates opportunities for rapid and inexpensive assessment of ADME/Tox (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion/toxicology) at very early phases of drug development, thereby enabling unsuitable candidates to be eliminated from consideration much earlier in the drug discovery process.

Biotransformation↗

Synthesis of chitosan-based polymeric surfactants and their adsorption properties for heavy metals and fatty acids.

Chitosan-based polymeric surfactants (CBPSs) were prepared by N-acylation of chitosans (chitosan 10 and 500) with several acid anhydrides such as hexanoic (C6), lauric (C12), and palmitic (C16) anhydrides. Among the CBPS samples, CBPSs having a good solubility at pH 4.0 were selected and observed for viscosity, surface tension, and adsorption of heavy metals (Cd2+, Co2+, Cr2O7(2-), and Pb2+) as well as the fatty acid (n-octanoic acid). The 1H NMR spectrum of chitosan 10 modified with C16 at the substitution ratio of 0.4 (CBPS10-C16,0.4) showed 85% of acylation in 1% DCl/D2O solutions. CBPS10 with the substitution ratio less than 0.4 showed a good solubility because of shorter repeating units and lesser amounts of hydrophobic substituents. The intrinsic viscosity of CBPS10 was slightly increased, while that of CBPS500 was decreased. As the substitution ratio and length of the carbon chain increased, the surface tension of CBPS10 tended to decrease. CBPS10-C16,0.2 had high adsorption ability for cationic metal ions such as Cd2+, Co2+, and Pb2+ comparable to chitosan. Interestingly, CBPS(10)-C(16,0.2) showed a unique pH optimum for the anionic metal ion such as Cr2O7(2-). In addition, CBPS10-C16,0.2 exhibited the highest adsorption ability for n-octanoic acid among the tested CBPS10 with different carbon chains.

Adsorption↗

Multienzyme catalysis in microfluidic biochips.

The attachment of enzymes to glass microfluidic channels has been achieved using a highly reactive poly(maleic anhydride-alt-alpha-olefin) (PMA)-based coating that is supplied to the microchannel in a toluene solution. The PMA reacts with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane groups linked to the glass surface to form a matrix that enables additional maleic anhydride groups to react with free amino groups on enzymes to give a mixed covalent-noncovalent immobilization support. Using a simple T-channel microfluidic design, with reaction channel dimensions of 200 microm wide (at the center), 15 microm deep, and 30 mm long giving a reaction volume of 90 nL, soybean peroxidase (SBP) was attached at an amount up to 0.6 microg/channel. SBP-catalyzed oxidation of p-cresol was performed in aqueous buffer (with 20% [v/v], dimethylformamide) containing H(2)O(2), with microfluidic transport enabled by electroosmotic flow (EOF). Michaelis-Menten kinetics were obtained with K(m) and V(max) values of 0.98 mM and 0.21 micromol H(2)O(2) converted/mg SBP per minute, respectively. These values are nearly identical to nonimmobilized SBP kinetics in aqueous-DMF solutions in 20-microL volumes in 384-well plates and 5-mL reaction volumes in 20-mL scintillation vials. These results indicate that SBP displays intrinsically native activity even in the immobilized form at the microscale, and further attests to the mild immobilization conditions afforded by PMA. Bienzymic and trienzymic reactions were also performed in the microfluidic biochip. Specifically, a combined Candida antarctica lipase B-SBP bienzymic system was used to convert tolyl acetate into poly(p-cresol), and an invertase-glucose oxidase SBP trienzymic system was used to take sucrose and generate H(2)O(2) for SBP-catalyzed synthesis of poly(p-cresol).

Catalysis↗

Microfluidic peroxidase biochip for polyphenol synthesis.

An enzyme-containing microfluidic biochip has been developed for the oxidative polymerization of phenols. The biochip consists of a simple T-junction with two feed reservoirs 20 mm apart and a microreaction channel 30 mm long. The channel is 15 microm deep and 200 microm wide at the center, giving a reaction volume of 90 nL. The biochip was fabricated using conventional photolithographic methods on a glass substrate etched using a HF-based solution. Fluid transport was enabled using electroosmotic flow. Soybean peroxidase was used as the phenol oxidizing catalyst, and in the presence of p-cresol and H(2)O(2), essentially complete conversion of the H(2)O(2) (the limiting substrate) occurred in the microchannel at a flow rate of ca. 290 nL/min. Thus, peroxidase was found to be intrinsically active even upon dramatic scale-down as achieved in microfluidic reactors. These results were extended to a series of phenols, thereby demonstrating that the microfluidic peroxidase reactor may have application in high-throughput screening of phenolic polymerization reactions for use in phenolic resin synthesis. Finally, rapid growth of poly(p-cresol) on the walls of the microreaction channel could be performed in the presence of higher H(2)O(2) concentrations. This finding suggests that solution-phase peroxidase catalysis can be used in the controlled deposition of polymers on the walls of microreactors.

Bioreactors↗

Enzyme activation for nonaqueous media.

Highly active enzyme formulations can be prepared for use in nonaqueous media. Considerable progress has been made in the past two years on gaining an improved mechanistic understanding of enzyme function and activation in dehydrated environments. This increased fundamental understanding has led to the development of a broad array of techniques for generating active, stable, and enantioselective and regioselective tailored enzymes for synthetically relevant transformations. This, in turn, is resulting in an exponential increase in the opportunities for enzymatic processes to be developed on a commercial scale.

Catalysis↗