Oct 24 2008
As part of its strategic plan, NanoPacific Holdings, Inc. (NPH) has executed two additional licenses with UCLA for nanoemulsons (including double nanoemulsions) and polypeptides. These nano technologies are highly adaptable and may be used in a variety of applications. Under the terms of agreement between NPH and UCLA, NPH will have an exclusive worldwide license to key intellectual property. These are integral components of NPH's nano controlled-delivery platform and provide complimentary novel technologies to its porous nanoparticles, previously licensed from UCLA, capable of storing and selectively releasing guest molecules via nanoscale gates that can be opened and closed at will on the surface of the nanoparticles. This will significantly expand NPH's nano controlled-delivery capabilities.
There are unique features to these technologies. As recently published in Nature, double nanoemulsions consist of many nanoscale double droplets, such as water droplets contained within oil droplets that have been formed and dispersed in an aqueous solution. Although larger double emulsions have been known for many years, achieving stable sub-100 nanometer diameters for both the inner and outer droplets is an important breakthrough that opens up exciting dual-cargo delivery applications in pharmaceuticals. Designer co-polypeptide stabilizer molecules, along with advanced emulsification methods, made this breakthrough possible. In addition to double nanoemulsions, single nanoemulsions of simple oil droplets dispersed in water offer tunable mechanical and optical properties useful for industrial materials at lower cost. Whether single or double, nanoemulsions are highly adaptable liquid delivery systems that can be tailored to provide desirable properties for a broad range of potential applications, from simple cosmetics to advanced drug delivery. “These are exciting times-- as novel emulsification methods are combined with advances in molecular design, nanoemulsions can be fashioned with extraordinary properties and potential commercial applications,” according to Prof. Thomas G. Mason, UCLA Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics, and John McTague Chair of Chemistry.
The polypeptide technology covers novel methodology for synthesis of well-defined block copolypeptides, synthetic polymers that are made up of the natural building blocks of proteins but which can be produced with the same ease as conventional plastics. These materials can be tailored to assemble into nanoscale structures for encapsulation and delivery applications, and are easily functionalized to obtain stimuli responsiveness and functionality for interacting with biological systems. Examples include polypeptide vesicles that form robust protein-like nanoshells for drug delivery, and hydrogels, whose nanofibrous structure can serve as a delivery depot or bioactive scaffold in therapeutic and cosmetic formulations. "The field of synthetic polypeptide materials has reached a level of sophistication where one can design structured and functional materials that are tuned for specific applications." says Timothy Deming, Professor of Bioengineering, and Chairman of the Bioengineering Department in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UCLA.
Both Mason and Deming have developed technologies with interesting capabilities. We look forward to following the progression of these technologies into the marketplace to benefit the economy and society at large,” said Earl Weinstein, Assistant Director of UCLA's Office of Intellectual Property.
“We are very pleased to have exclusively licensed these breakthrough technologies from UCLA. The work of Professors Mason and Deming is extraordinary and novel. The nanoemulsions and polypeptides are a strategic fit and perfect compliment to our mesoporous silica nano machines. This will enable us to develop hard and soft nano delivery devices or hybrid structures, some of which are biodegradable. These technologies facilitate NPH's quest to be the premier nano controlled-delivery company. This now opens up to NanoPacific a broader range of sophisticated and targeted applications in the Biomedical (diagnostics and therapeutics), Cosmetics, Industrial, Environmental and Food and Agricultural markets,” stated Joseph A. Boystak, Chairman & Co-CEO.
“We value the relationship with UCLA. We will continue to work closely with premier faculty, fund sponsored research with the unwavering objective of bringing this important research from the bench to the commercial market,” said Michael B. Flesch, Vice Chairman & Co-CEO.