General PolyAmino Acids FAQ

1. What is a polyamino acid?
2. What is a homo polyamino acid?
3. What is a random co-polyamino acid?
4. Are the polyamino acid molecular weights average or absolute?
5. What are some applications of polyamino acids?

What is a polyamino acid?
A polyamino acid is a synthetic polymer made up of many repeating units of amino acid(s).

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What is a homo polyamino acid?
A homo polyamino acid is a polymer made up of a single amino acid as the repeating unit.

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What is a random co-polyamino acid?
A random co-polyamino acid is a polymer made from two or more different amino acids that repeat in a random sequence.

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Are the polyamino acid molecular weights average or absolute?
All polyamino acid molecular weights are average molecular weights and not absolute. Polydispersity is calculated from the ratio of Mw/Mn (Mw is the weight average molecular weight and Mn is the number average molecular weight).

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What are some applications of polyamino acids?
Polyamino acids are used in a variety of applications.

Clinical applications include:
• Micro encapsulation
• Nano and micro particles for tissue-targeted drug delivery and for the delivery of biologics
• Vaccines for hepatitis C, multiple scleroses, emphysema
• Gene therapy
• Immuno suppressants

Non-clinical applications include:
• High throughput screening
• Substrates for the purification of protein kinases
• Cell adhesion