Ability to quickly restore molecular proteins could slash biotechnology costs

摘要

UC Irvine and Australian chemists have figured out how to unboil egg whites - an innovation that could dramatically reduce costs for cancer treatments, food production and other segments of the $160-bn global biotechnology industry, according to findings published today in the journal, ChemBioChem. "Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg," said Gregory Weiss, UCI professor of chemistry and molecular biology & biochemistry. "In our paper, we describe a device for pulling apart tangled proteins and allowing them to refold. We start with egg whites boiled for 20 minutes at 90°C and return a key protein in the egg to working order."