CARBOHYDRATE CROSSLINKED GLYCOPROTEIN CRYSTALS

摘要

The present invention relates to the field of carbohydrate crosslinked glycoprotein crystals. Adavantageously, such crosslinked glycoprotein crystals display stability to harsh environmental conditions, while maintaining the structural and functional integrity of the glycoprotein backbone. According to one embodiment, this invention relates to methods for concentrating proteins that have been modified by carbohydrates and for releasing their activity at controlled rates. This invention also provides methods for producing carbohydrate crosslinked glycoprotein crystals and methods for using them in pharmaceutical formulations, vaccines, immunotherapeutics, personal care compositions, including cosmetics, veterinary pharmaceutical compositions and vaccines, foods, feeds, diagnostics, cleaning agents, including detergents and decontamination formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of carbohydrate crosslinked glycoprotein crystals render them particularly useful as sorbents for separations, such as chiral chromatography, or affinity chromatography - which are based on specific interactions between the active binding site of the glycoprotein component of the crystals and the substance or molecule of interest. Such characteristics also render carbohydrate crosslinked glycoprotein crystals useful as catalytic and binding components for the production of biosensing devices.