The work has even wider implications. Until now there's been no quick and easy way to determine the composition of heparin produced by any technique. Professor Sasisekharan emphasizes that commercially available heparin is still quite safe. Doctors have more than 50 years of experience in using the drug. The team is currently working to make the technology commercially available.
Patents are pending.
The work is funded in part by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, the NIH, and a Whitaker Health Sciences Fund Fellowship.