Team:Exeter/Applications

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Revision as of 13:56, 18 September 2012

Polysaccharides appear in every corner of the natural world, they have multiple applications in nature ranging from protection to energy storage.

Not surprisingly humanity has taken advantage of their diversity and by doing so created a vast range of materials and applications where polysaccharides can today be found. These include the obvious uses in paper and wood to the less well known abilities of some polysaccharides, such as Chitin to behave as a sterile clotting agent in plasters.

We invite you to take a brief look at what we believe could one day be possible if a system to design bespoke polysaccharides existed.

“It is not what we believe to be impossible that holds us back, but merely the limit to our imagination.”


	The potential for new applications across the medical sector is vast. They range from external uses in treatment to effective cures. Several polysaccharides currently show antiseptic properties making them very useful in the medical world. Chitosan has also shown an anti-clotting ability making it a potential candidate for wound dressings or gels. We would suggest the next step would be to create a bio-friendly gel that could be used during operations to prevent/stop bleeds more effectively than the current gauze approach. It is believed we are well overdue a flu outbreak of pandemic levels we believe our research could lead to rapid vaccine production which would save millions in the event of an outbreak. - - This would be achieved by simple inspection of the virus to determine the type of polysaccharide required for a vaccine. Blood types are distinguished solely by surface polysaccharides which produce a different surface signal. In the future we envisage a system where donor blood could be ‘masked’ to display the properties of acceptors blood. This would be achieved by creating a polysaccharide that could bind to the surface of the donor blood and display the same properties as the acceptor blood on the extreme surface thus passing as the host blood type. This method of masking could then be progressed to donor tissue and organs with possibility of entire body parts being transplanted.


	Last year Suzanne Lee set a challenge; to spin her a bug, align it in a certain direction, grow it around a specific shape and make it hydrophobic. We believe that our project is a step in the right direction to making this a reality. With the ability to create novel polysaccharides and build them with very specific properties, in both physical and electrical, a vast amount of new, unique, and exciting materials could present themselves. One that may be invented could take advantage of Xylomannan’s anti-freezing properties found within the Alaskan Beetle able to resist below -70°C. A suit which could withstand such extreme temperatures would have many uses, perhaps predominantly in diving and space suits!


	Polysaccharides can already be used as an edible food glue to accomplish many different types of effects from standard assembly of food types to highly decorative pieces of food art. Along with its artistic capabilities there are also practical implications in the uses of polysaccharides in food. They can also offer applications in many other areas such as: thickeners, suspension agents, oxidation resistance, dehydration resistance, and extending the shelf life of the foodstuff. In the future imagine if we could amplify the ability to preserve food... this would have a massive effect on global food shortages. Not only might it be possible to coat, or perhaps even grow, current “perishables” such as fruit and veg but the billion tons worth of food which is wasted each year could find itself ingested instead of buried. With modernised countries overcoming the wasteful nature of today’s attitude, the food which is currently produced to sustain the demand could then be exported to nations who still struggle with producing sufficient quantities of food. When extended space flight becomes a reality, consumable lifetime will be a serious issue. Therefore polysaccharide coating could provide a means to supply a space vessel with not only a sufficient amount of long lasting food but also provisions that are resistant to water loss, bacterial growth, and mutation by ionising radiation.


	Creating unique uses for new materials is always exciting. These are a few that the Exeter iGEM team have come up with: A self-healing metal coating would be scatch proof and therefore ideal for cars; bio-degradable plastic polysaccharides would be environmentally friendly and great for storage. Self-assembling brigdes with separate hydrophobic/hydrophilic domains could be a neccessity for the avid traveller of the future. These are just some possibilites of creating new polysaccharides!

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