Plastic Antibodies: Recent Advances in Molecular Imprinting

Featuring Kenneth Shea, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
School of Physical Sciences
UC Irvine

Location: Information and Computer Science (ICS), Room 174
Free and open to the public

Abstract:
Molecular imprinting is a general protocol for creating receptor and/or catalytic sites in cross-linked network polymers. Imprinted polymers (MIPs) are chemically robust functional thermosets that can be used as chromatographic packings and sorbents for the binding, separation and isolation of targeted molecules. This talk will provide an introduction to molecular imprinting and focus on recent developments, including epitope imprinting, a general strategy for synthesizing materials for selective protein capture, and the synthesis and evaluation of “plastic” antibodies, nanosized polymer particles with antibody-like affinity in vitro and in vivo.