RNA Hydrogel

Hydrogels are water-saturated turgid materials used for a wide range of applications such as tissue engineering scaffolds and drug delivery vehicles. Hydrogels are one of the most widely investigated and versatile technologies for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications, due to their tunable structure. These gels can also serve as selective filters or selective barriers for a broader range of permeability control. To date, all naturally occurring biomolecules are known to be capable of forming hydrogels or biocompatible hydrogels, with the exception of RNA. RNA has not been known previously to either possess the functional parts or modular sequence segments to form hydrogels by self-assembly.

Technology Overview:

This technology, developed by University at Albany researchers, is an RNA whose sequence contains two unique segments or motifs. This RNA has the unprecedented capacity to form hydrogel by self-assembly, due to the novel sequence motifs. The RNA molecule can be made from its DNA sequence template using enzymatic transcription.

Advantages:

Unique. This is the first case where RNA can self-assemble into hydrogel. Versatile. The uses of hydrogels in medical research are many and varied. The creation of RNA hydrogels may expand these uses to a range of potentially valuable and important applications.

Applications:

Tissue engineering Drug delivery platforms Cell culture scaffolds Wound dressing

Intellectual Property Summary:

Patented

Stage of Development:

This technology has been granted US Patent No. 10,731,165 RNA Hydrogels

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing. This technology could be of significant interest to: Medical treatment facilities Pharmaceutical companies Medical research centers Educational institutions

Licensing Potential:

Development partner - Commercial partner - Licensing