How the secrets of the ‘water bear’ could improve lifesaving drugs like insulin

UCLA chemist Heather Maynard had to wonder: How do organisms like the tardigrade do it?This stocky microscopic animal, also known as a water bear, can survive in environments where survival seems impossible. Tardigrades have been shown to endure extremes of heat, cold and pressure — and even the vacuum of space — by entering a state of suspended animation and revitalizing, sometimes decades later, under more hospitable conditions. If she could understand the mechanism behind this extraordinary preservation, Maynard reckoned, she might be able to use the knowledge to improve medicines so that they remain potent longer and are less vulnerable to typical environmental challenges, ultimately broadening access and benefiting human health.It turns out that one of the process protecting tardigrades is spurred by a sugar molecule called trehalose, commonly found in living things  from plants to microbes to insects, some of which use it as blood sugar. For a few select organisms, such as the water bear and the spiky resurrection plant, that can revive after years of near-zero metabolism and complete dehydration, trehalose’s stabilizing power is the secret to their unearth ly fortitude. Armed with this insight, Maynard, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry who holds UCLA ’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Chair in Polymer Science, invented a polymer based on the sugar. Her polymer, called poly(trehalose methacrylate), or pTrMA, actually seems to improve upon nature in its ability to ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news