Anyone who has left ice cream in the freezer too long knows how unpleasant freezer burn can be.
What’s less obvious is that the same process, slow, jagged ice-crystal growth, can destabilize fragile biological medicines.
Treatments such as the monoclonal antibody drug Trastuzumab gradually lose their structure when frozen, complicating long-term storage and global distribution.
For decades, researchers have searched for additives that can slow or stop this damage without creating new safety concerns.
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The challenge has been finding something that works across different temperatures, is inexpensive to produce, and doesn’t introduce toxicity.
Borrowing a trick from cold-water fish
Some fish living in polar seas solve this problem naturally. Species like Arctic cod carry specialized proteins that keep ice crystals from spreading through their tissues.
Scientists have long hoped to capture this biological strategy, but isolating the proteins from animals is too costly and attempts to reproduce them at scale have been limited.
A research group at the University of Utah published their findings in Advanced Materials has now reported a promising alternative: synthetic polypeptides designed to mimic only the essential ice-blocking features of those natural proteins.
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By stripping away unnecessary molecular parts and rebuilding the key characteristics using basic chemical components, the team created a simplified version that does not rely on cells, fish tissue, or biotech fermentation.
Testing the lab-made mimic
To see how the new molecules performed, the researchers started with a household test, ice cream.
With the synthetic additive mixed in, the dessert held its texture at temperatures that would normally cause it to degrade.
In separate trials, Trastuzumab also remained structurally stable under extremely cold conditions used for deep-freeze pharmaceutical storage.
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Safety testing suggested the polypeptides do not harm human cells and can be digested, an important consideration for any food-related use.
The team says the approach could eventually support applications ranging from food manufacturing to biomedical transport and agricultural preservation.
The scientists are now pursuing a patent as they explore how to scale up production for commercial use.
Sources: Popular Science, and Advanced Materials.
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