New retrieval method makes studying cancer proteins easier By
Brian Wallheimer July 6, 2010 A Purdue University researcher can
better retrieve specific proteins needed to study how cancer
cells form by using a newly developed technique and synthetic
nanopolymer. W. Andy Tao, an assistant professor of
biochemistry, said these specific proteins, called
phosphoproteins, can be mapped and analyzed so that we can find
ways to inhibit the processes that lead to cancer. But first
those few proteins must be fished out of a sea of thousands of
others. Tao developed and patented the polymer-based metal-ion
affinity capture, or PolyMAC. The synthetic nanopolymer isolates
proteins and peptides that have undergone a process called
phosphorylation that is highly associated with cancer, and a
patented technique allows Tao to retrieve those proteins.
Obtaining the information on these proteins is important for
studying how to inhibit the processes that lead to cancer. "You
really want to capture these particular proteins, bu