Engineering fucoidan synthesis

Surgical adhesions can form after many kinds of surgery, and affect millions of patients every year, hindering healing and causing pain and infertility. ARC Medical Devices has shown that treating a surgical site with fucoidan, a polysaccharide extracted from some types of seaweed, greatly reduces surgical adhesions in animals, but a source of pure fucoidan is needed to try the technique in humans. We propose to use methods developed in our lab to engineer enzymes to provide an easy way to assemble the units that make up fucoidan. This will then provide a route to artificial fucoidan, which can be used by ARC for clinical trials to test its benefit in human surgery.

Faculty Supervisor:

Stephen Withers

Student:

Partner:

ARC Medical Devices Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: