Panagene develops novel PNA chemistry
Panagene, a Korean biotechnology firm developing novel biomaterials for post-genomic era, has developed a novel PNA (Peptide Nucleic Acid) chemistry, which leads to the manufacture of PNA monomers on a large scale at the lowest cost and to the efficient synthesis of PNA oligomers at higher purity.
Panagene, a Korean biotechnology firm developing novel biomaterials for post-genomic era, has developed a novel PNA (Peptide Nucleic Acid) chemistry, which leads to the manufacture of PNA monomers on a large scale at the lowest cost and to the efficient synthesis of PNA oligomers at higher purity.
This new proprietary PNA chemistry will accelerate the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products derived from human genome project sequence data, the company claims.
PNA is a nucleic acid analogue in which the entire phosphate sugar backbone has been replaced by an uncharged polyamide backbone with the side groups, purine and pyrimidine bases, found in biological nucleic acids. PNAs mimic DNA but are known to be more stable and to bind more strongly and more specifically to single-stranded DNA or RNA. It therefore has the potential to substitute for DNA in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
But due to the high cost of its monomer and oligomer, PNA has not been widely used. The new Panagene PNA technology enables large-scale synthesis of PNA monomers and a convenient synthesis of PNA oligomer at lower cost, higher yield and higher purity.
'This new PNA chemistry makes parallel and large scale synthesis of oligomers possible and provides a solution to high throughput functional genomics study, molecular diagnostics, PNA array, and antisense therapy at an affordable cost,' said Dr Sungkee Kim, ceo of Panagene. 'It is especially practical for antisense application where production scale and manufacturing cost of drug material is the first priority.
Panagene has started actively to seek strategic partners who can broadly exploit the advantages of this new PNA chemistry and accelerate PNA chip development, diagnostic and therapeutic products.