Title: Write: Protein Purification in Pharmaceuticals and Effect On Global Population
Course: BTEC-1000-301-302-303-F21 > Section: Protein Purification

Module 3 Protein Purification in Pharmaceuticals and Effect On Global Population

Write

You have now done your own very simple version of protein purification. As you saw in the videos, industrial GFP purification is more complicated, and includes more steps, including anion exchange chromatography (which we did not do) prior to hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The steps required for medicines are even more involved still, as patient safety must be assured.

The table below provides some examples of medicines that are created using biotechnology. Genetically modified microbes make the proteins, then the proteins are are purified in ways similar to what we saw for GFP. Some drugs can be made more cheaply and quickly using biotechnology than by extracting them from their natural source - this was the case for artemisinin, the malaria drug that was discovered in the wormwood plant, and insulin, which used to be harvested from pig pancreatic glands. However, many biotech medicines are very costly indeed.

For this assignment, choose a biotechnology medicine, either one from the table or another (there are many!). Research the medicine, and the disease or condition it treats. In a short essay, 200-500 words, address the following questions in the assignment textbox or upload a Word doc.

- What is the drug, and what disease or condition does it treat?
- What are the symptoms of the disease or condition?
- Who tends to get the disease or condition most? Where do they live, and what are the risk factors?
- How much does the medicine cost?
- How does cost affect access to the medicine?

Recombinant DNA Product | Application
Atrial natriuretic peptide | Treatment of heart disease (e.g., congestive heart failure), kidney disease, high blood pressure
DNase | Treatment of viscous lung secretions in cystic fibrosis
Erythropoietin | Treatment of severe anemia with kidney damage
Factor VIII | Treatment of hemophilia
Hepatitis B vaccine | Prevention of hepatitis B infection
Human growth hormone | Treatment of growth hormone deficiency, Turner’s syndrome, burns
Human insulin | Treatment of diabetes
Interferons | Treatment of multiple sclerosis, various cancers (e.g., melanoma), viral infections (e.g., Hepatitis B and C)
Tetracenomycins | Used as antibiotics
Tissue plasminogen activator | Treatment of pulmonary embolism in ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction

(Table from Jack O’Grady, Austin Community College.)

Objectives

- Research a pharmaceutical that relies on protein purification.
- Analyze how the availability of your researched pharmaceutical affects the well-being of the global population.