Grant: Idea to Innovation

TEC Edmonton filed a US provisional patent application on October 23, 2019 that describes Dr. Overduin's invention relating to a series of functionalized derivatives of maleic acid copolymers which are used for solubilization, purification, manipulation and visualization of hydrophobic materials such as lipids or membrane proteins, the water-soluble nanodiscs formed between said copolymers and hydrophobic materials,methods for preparing said complexes, and the applications of said complexes, particularly to analytical, screening or diagnostic purposes. The US provisional patent application will be converted to a formal PCT application by October 23, 2020, at which point new data will be incorporated regarding the use of this copolymers and methods with additional cells, tissues, and membrane proteins to form nanodiscs as well as accompanying biophysical and biochemical characterization. The subsequent national phase deadline will be pursued in order to maintain patent protection in the US, Canada, and Europe to allow for future research and to retain industry interest. Based on past expenditures, we estimate that our total filing costs in the aforementioned jurisdictions will be $10,000, for which we are asking half to be reimbursed by I2I funding. Over the course of this grant, we will continue to engage with potential licensees to ensure mutual ongoing benefit, and will work towards our goal of securing license agreements and contract services.