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A Chemoenzymatic Approach For Synthesizing Polymeric Hemoglobin, Johann P. Sigurjonsson

Graduate Student Symposium

Polymerized hemoglobin (Hb) molecules have been shown to decrease previously observed adverse events associated with the administration of cell-free hemoglobin. To create these polymers, a method will be developed which employs the site specific ligation reaction of the sortase A enzyme from S. aureus. An Hb mutant (“αcpβ“) previously developed in our lab has been further modified by adding either the sortase recognition sequence, LPXTG, to the C-terminus of the α-subunit (s-αcpβ), or a tetraglycine motif, GGGG, to the N-terminus (n-αcpβ). Three types of sortase mediated ligation (SML) will be employed in this study. First, we will attempt to ligate …