Artificial Cell Technologies, Inc. (ACT) designs, engineers and fabricates coatings, capsules, and Artificial Cells from polypeptides by a method called electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly (LBL). This approach to biomaterial manufacture offers a high degree of control over the physical, chemical, biological, and functional properties of the films and capsules, and is important for achieving medically-useful characteristics such as biocompatibility, control of immune response, and the ability to regulate in vivo functionality, stability, and circulatory half-life. Peptide design affords a broad range of specific functional properties. LBL is a simple, established, and reliable method for the engineering and manufacture of coatings, capsules, and Artificial Cells. Control over polypeptide structure and nanofilm architecture leads to control over biological response at the cellular or system level. The technology can be used to control properties such as immunogenicity and interactions with specific cell types.

Polypeptide Multilayer Nanofilms ACT designs polypeptides by mimicking naturally-occurring peptides in the human body or in other organisms. This may be thought of as spelling polypeptide words with an alphabet of amino acid letters to yield a specific functional meaning. Engineered polypeptides are assembled into multilayer nanofilms using LBL. Polypeptides designed to be positively charged or negatively charged are deposited into a film one layer at a time. Adjacent layers adhere to each other by electrical charge interactions. When the film is formed on a flat surface, the result is a coating; when the film is formed on a spherical surface, the result is a capsule, non-immunogenic Artificial Cell, or immunogenic Artificial Virus.

Schematic diagram of Layer-by-Layer self-assembly (LBL) for construction of films or Artificial Cells:
 

Film Properties  The nanofilm fabrication process enables a high level of control over film and capsule properties such as size, thickness, porosity, permeability, density, surface charge, roughness, biological functionality, and integration and release rates of pharmacological agents.

Advantages  Use of polypeptides provides extensive control over the biological functionality of nanofilms, Artificial Cells, and Artificial Viruses when compared to nanofilms and nanoparticles made using other kinds of polymers. ACT’s polypeptide nanofilms can be made entirely synthetically, without use of animal or bacterial sources. This reduces the complexity of fabrication and the risk of product contamination. ACT’s structures are stable under a variety of harsh conditions such as a strongly acidic environment, important for stability in the gut, and when freeze dried they can be stored at room temperature for years.