Cure for gluten intolerance feasible with synthetic enzymes

intestines
Celiac disease is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder where the small intestine is hypersensitive to gluton. Thus, this condition leads to difficulty in digesting food.

Research to create a cure for celiac disease that started [at the University of Washington] is now moving to the next level with a start-up company.

“This has the potential to be used orally to break down gluten before it can reach the intestines,” said Ingrid Swanson Pultz, Ph.D., who co-founded PVP Biologics.

When this work started [in 2011], Pultz said, the students treated it almost like a video game — a competition to build the best synthetic protein to break down gluten.

“It worked. It didn’t work extremely well, but it worked,” said Pultz. So well in fact, that the students’ prototype won a global competition that fall….

“And we further developed the enzyme, and now we have something that’s really, really powerful,” she said.

Grant money only goes so far for research, so now the university welcomes Pultz and her partners in PVP Biologics to Fluke Hall, which is designed specifically for these types of startups.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Potential cure for celiac advances at the UW

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