Many peptide and protein drugs have a short plasma half-life. PEGylation—conjugation of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to biologics—is commonly used to increase the half-life, but PEG has proven to be antigenic. To overcome these limitations, our lab has designed a new PEG-like “stealth” polymer, poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate] (POEGMA) an amphiphilic hyperbranched polymer that breaks up the long antigenic ethylene glycol sequence in PEG and presents them as much shorter oligomeric ethylene Glycol (OEG) side-chains along a hydrophobic backbone. POEGMA conjugates show prolonged circulation and do not bind to pre-existing anti-PEG antibodies and generate a weak immune response. Current work is focused on applying this technology to pharmacologically relevant biomolecules and vaccine formulations.

Find some of our previous work on PEG-like conjugates below: