Protein: more than a meal of steak, eggs...

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 57, 18 July 1974, Page 4

Protein: more than a meal of steak, eggs...

Biochemists at Massey University are using the only protein synthesiser in the southern hemisphere to create proteins from their constituent amino acids. This device reduces a torturous'.y long, highly expensive process to a largely automated procedure that could provide proteins for medical research at a fraction of their present cost. Dr W. S. Hancock, who is in charge of the project, said the average person has only a vague concept of a protein — something beneficial found in meat, eggs and fish. However, proteins form a much larger elass of substances, including enzymes, the compounds that effect various reactions in the body, and hormones, the chemical controllers of these reactions. According to Dr Hancock, a surprising number of medical ailments are caused by the overabundance or deficiency of a particular enzyme or hormone. Diabetics, for example, | suffer from a deficiency of ! insulin, the hormone that controls the blood sugar level. Injections of insulin extracted from animal sources compensate for the | deficiency. With traditional meth1 ods, building even one protein may take 10 years or more. Although the task is still difficult, use of the synthe-

siser allows good yields of the smaller proteins to be achieved far more quickly. The difference lies in a simple chemical trick — the emerging protein is rendered insoluble throughout all the stages of its creation by bonding it to another compound to form a resin. Instead of laboriously crystallising and filtering out each intermediate substance the whole series of reactions can take place in one vessel. The appropriate chemi-

cal liquid is added to the resin, the vessel is agitated to ensure a complete reaction and at the end the surplus chemical is flushed away. This cycle is repeated very many times controlled automatically by a punch tape system. Photosensors check that the correct amount of chemical is added and flushed away at the right time and an alarm is set off if the reaction vessel is not shaken sufficiently. Finally, the protein must be separated from the resin

and purified. The few grams of protefn produced may seem insignificant but the machine v has the potential to create more than enough material to satisfy the research interests of Dr Hancock and his team. An exciting prospect for the future lies in the use of Massey's unique facilities to provide proteins for medical research. From the medical point of view the few grams produced is an enormous amount when a typical dose may be a millionth of

a gram. For example, one particular hormone of medical importance could be imported for $50,000 a gram but the same hormone could be made at Massey for one tenth the cost. Looking still further ahead there may be a use of these proteins in the agricultural field as well. One thing seems certain — proteins are going to mean more to us in the future than one of the benefits of enjoying steak and eggs.