United States Patent: 9273305

The present invention is directed to the use of silicic acid to transform biological materials, including cellular architecture into inorganic materials to provide biocomposites (nanomaterials) with stabilized structure and function. In the present invention, there has been discovered a means to stabilize the structure and function of biological materials, including cells, biomolecules, peptides, proteins (especially including enzymes), lipids, lipid vesicles, polysaccharides, cytoskeletal filaments, tissue and organs with silicic acid such that these materials may be used as biocomposites. In many instances, these materials retain their original biological activity and may be used in harsh conditions which would otherwise destroy the integrity of the biological material. In certain instances, these biomaterials may be storage stable for long periods of time and reconstituted after storage to return the biological material back to its original form. In addition, by exposing an entire cell to form CSCs, the CSCs may function to provide a unique system to study enzymes or a cascade of enzymes which are otherwise unavailable. Inventors: Kaehr; Bryan J. (Albuquerque, Brinker; C. Jeffrey (Albuquerque, Townson; Jason L. (Albuquerque Applicant: Name City State Country Type Sandia Corporation STC.UNM Albuquerque Albuquerque NM NM US US Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM) STC.UNM (Albuquerque, NM) Family ID: 1000000357773 Appl. No.: 13/869,799 Filed: April 24, 2013 Related U.S. Patent Documents Application Number Filing Date Patent Number Issue Date 61638315 Apr 25, 2012 Current U.S. Class: 1/1 Current CPC Class: C12N 11/14 (20130101) United States Patent: 9273305 http://patft.uspto. gov/. inker.INNM. &s2=albuquerque.INCI. &OS=IN/brinker+AND+IC/albuquerque&RS=IN/brinker+AND+IC/albuquerque[3/2/2016 10:27:37 PM] Current International Class: C12N 11/14 (20060101) References Cited [Referenced By] U.S. Patent Documents 5078919 January 1992 Ashley et al. 5122305 June 1992 Ashley et al. 5137659 August 1992 Ashley et al. 5151110 September 1992 Bein et al. 5224972 July 1993 Frye et al. 5240647 August 1993 Ashley et al. 5306445 April 1994 Reed et al. 5313485 May 1994 Hamil et al. 5565142 October 1996 Deshpande et al. 5589396 December 1996 Frye et al. 5770275 June 1998 Raman et al. 5772735 June 1998 Sehgal et al. 5858457 January 1999 Brinker et al. 5935646 August 1999 Raman et al. 5948482 September 1999 Brinker et al. 5949071 September 1999 Ruffner et al. 6057377 May 2000 Sasaki et al. 6258305 July 2001 Brinker et al. 6264741 July 2001 Brinker et al. 6270846 August 2001 Brinker et al. 6387453 May 2002 Brinker et al. 6471761 October 2002 Fan et al. 6495352 December 2002 Brinker et al. 6536604 March 2003 Brinker et al. 6808867 October 2004 Doshi et al. 6913832 July 2005 Fan et al. 6983093 January 2006 Fraval et al. 7332264 February 2008 Doshi et al. 7485343 February 2009 Branson et al. 7744673 June 2010 Jiang et al. RE41612 August 2010 Brinker et al. 7947579 May 2011 Jiang et al. 8092595 January 2012 Fan et al. 8187678 May 2012 Jiang et al. 8246933 August 2012 Jiang et al. 8318127 November 2012 Jiang et al. 8501057 August 2013 Jiang et al. 8663742 March 2014 Kissel et al. 2011/0186971 August 2011 Jiang et al. United States Patent: 9273305 http://patft.uspto. gov/. inker.INNM. &s2=albuquerque.INCI. &OS=IN/brinker+AND+IC/albuquerque&RS=IN/brinker+AND+IC/albuquerque[3/2/2016 10:27:37 PM] 2011/0268791 November 2011 Liu et al. 2012/0040577 February 2012 Kissel et al. Foreign Patent Documents WO 03/016040 Feb 2003 WO WO 2008/060883 May 2008 WO WO 2012/149376 Nov 2012 WO WO 2013/056132 Apr 2013 WO WO 2013/103614 Jul 2013 WO