Keratin nanomaterials and methods of production

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10400019-B2
Application number	US-201515308285-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2015
Priority date	May 1, 2014
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to keratin nanomaterials, methods for obtaining keratin nanomaterials, and biomaterials made from keratin nanomaterials. In particular, keratin nanomaterials comprising Type I and Type II monomer pairs are disclosed as well as a method for obtaining keratin nanomaterials comprising obtaining a solution of keratin and processing the solution by ultrafiltration with buffer solution containing phosphate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A keratin nanomaterial comprising two (2) Type I and Type II monomer pairs, wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular size of approximately 50 nm in length and approximately 1 nm to 5 nm in diameter.

2. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 1 comprising a mixture of dimers and tetramers.

3. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 1 comprising a molecular complex essentially devoid of other proteins and/or peptides.

4. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 1 , wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular weight of greater than 100 kDa.

5. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 1 , wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular weight of greater than 200 kDa.

6. A keratin nanomaterial comprising two (2) Type I and Type II monomer pairs, wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular size of approximately 50 nm to 100 nm in length and approximately 5 nm to 10 nm in diameter.

7. A method for obtaining keratin nanomaterials comprising the following steps:
a. obtaining a solution of keratins;
b. processing the solution of keratins by ultrafiltration with buffer solution containing phosphate; and
c. and further processing said solution by removing water to form a solid keratin nanomaterial of claim 1 or claim 6 .

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ultrafiltration is conducted with a NLMWCO membrane of 30 kDa.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ultrafiltration is conducted with a NLMWCO membrane of 100 kDa.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ultrafiltration is conducted with a NLMWCO membrane of 200 kDa.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ultrafiltration is conducted with a NLMWCO membrane of 300 kDa.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises sodium phosphate.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises monosodium phosphate.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises disodium phosphate.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises potassium phosphate.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises monopotassium phosphate.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution containing phosphate comprises dipotassium phosphate.

18. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer solution further comprises potassium chloride.

19. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 6 comprising a mixture of dimers and tetramers.

20. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 6 comprising a molecular complex essentially devoid of other proteins and/or peptides.

21. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 6 , wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular weight of greater than 100 kDa.

22. The keratin nanomaterial of claim 6 , wherein the nanomaterial has a molecular weight of greater than 200 kDa.

Assignees

• Van Dyke Mark
• Rahmany Maria
• Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc

Inventors

• Van Dyke Mark
• Rahmany Maria

Classifications

• B82Y5/00

  Nanobiotechnology or nanomedicine, e.g. protein engineering or drug delivery · CPC title

• A61L2400/12

  Nanosized materials, e.g. nanofibres, nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes; Nanostructured surfaces · CPC title

• A61L27/227 Primary

  Other specific proteins or polypeptides not covered by A61L27/222, A61L27/225 or A61L27/24 · CPC title

• A61L26/0047

  Specific proteins or polypeptides not covered by groups A61L26/0033 - A61L26/0042 · CPC title

• A61L24/108

  Specific proteins or polypeptides not covered by groups A61L24/102 - A61L24/106 · CPC title