University of Strathclyde

Overview
Based in the heart of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, the University of Strathclyde is winner of the Times Higher Education UK University of the Year 2019 and The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2020. The University continues to take bold steps in transforming its approach to working with business, industry and government to make a positive impact on the local and global community it serves.
Strathclyde is a socially progressive, leading international technological University, inspired by its Age of Enlightenment founder’s vision of a ‘place of useful learning’. Together with its partners, it has developed shared clusters of research capability in high-growth areas, including Health Technology, Quantum, Space, 5G, Industrial Informatics and FinTech. Strathclyde is the anchor university for the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland, a centre of expertise to help position the UK as a global leader in advanced manufacturing.
Research
Strathclyde is home to world-class researchers who address local, societal and global challenges.
Research is of central importance to everything the University does. It informs teaching and helps make a difference to business, industry and society as a whole. Strathclyde is in the UK’s top 20 universities for research intensity, according to the Times Higher Education’s analysis of REF (Research Excellence Framework) 2014. 
Strathclyde’s leading-edge research and close links with business, industry and public sector organisations make it the university of choice for a growing number of doctoral researchers. Collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches and the desire to create an impact are key drivers at the core of Strathclyde’s research strategy, which is embedded in all its doctoral programmes. Strathclyde’s research programmes showcase its focus on relevance and usefulness, through impact on industry, science and society.
Glasgow City Innovation District
Strathclyde, in partnership with Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurial Scotland has established Scotland’s first innovation district as a hub for entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration, bringing together ambitious, forward-thinking people to tackle societal and global challenges and drive inclusive economic growth.
Technology &amp; Innovation Centre Zone
At the core of the Glasgow City Innovation District, the Technology &amp; Innovation Centre (TIC) zone, sited within the University of Strathclyde, has a high concentration of innovative organisations, including UK Catapult Centres, Scottish Funding Council Innovation Centres and the UK’s first Fraunhofer Institute.
In the TIC Zone, Strathclyde is transforming the way academics, business, industry and the public sector work in partnership. They are working together to find solutions to significant challenges in areas of economic importance.
The Innovation and Industry Engagement Directorate is at the centre of Strathclyde’s strategic commitment to delivering global economic and societal impact. Working with entrepreneurs, academics and external business partners, the aim is to support the formation and growth of commercial opportunities and to facilitate new partnerships between these communities.

<h1 id="background">Background</h1>
Bio-orthogonal reactions are essential tools used throughout basic research, in pharmaceutical (R&amp;D and therapeutics) and biotechnology sectors, where they underpin key workflows for biomolecule tagging in live cells, target validation of small molecule drug leads through to the construction of antibody-drug-conjugates (ADCs) and peptide-oligonucleotide therapeutics (Figure 1).
Existing copper-free click chemistries are susceptible to side-reactions and their hydrophobicity can have an adverse impact on cell permeability. These reactions also produce product mixtures (different structural isomers), and typically require excess reagents which poses issues relating to the cost of manufacturing bioconjugates (e.g. ADCs). 
In contrast, the classic copper-catalysed CuAAC ‘click reaction’ is fast, selective and regiospecific, producing a single 1,4-triazole product. One distinct limitation of CuAAC for life science applications is it typically requires micromolar [Cu] (20-500 M) to catalyze the reaction, which is typically toxic for many cell types. In addition, biomacromolecules contain numerous Cu-chelation sites, resulting in toxic residual Cu present in the final bioconjugate.
Therefore, access to efficient bio-orthogonal chemistries which produce a single product whilst minimizing or eliminating Cu toxicity would provide a new tagging bioconjugate platform technology for the life sciences. 
<h1 id="technology-overview">Technology Overview</h1>
The University of Strathclyde has developed a unique variant of traditional CuAAC reaction, which exploits the unique reactivity of ynamines as an improved reagent for biomolecule tagging and bioconjugate synthesis. Recent results have identified ynamine click reagents which requires low levels - and in some cases no Cu(I) at all - of a Cu(I) catalyst, enabling selective formation of 1,4-triazole products. A patent application has been filed for the ynamine ligation platform which has the potential to circumvent Cu-toxicity and oxidative degradation associated with conventional CuAAC technology.
Our recent studies have shown that the bio-orthogonal reactivity of an ynamine click reaction is inherently tuneable according to its molecular environment (e.g., promoted by glutathione). This enables ynamine click reactions as a complementary reaction platform with other types of bio-orthogonal reactions. Furthermore, this opens up opportunities to use ynamine click chemistry as a platform to produce therapeutic bioconjugates with improved efficacy and safety profiles. 
<h3 id="-stage-of-development-">Stage of Development</h3>
The research team is currently expanding their suite of ynamine ‘click’ reagents and corresponding products which can: 
(i) catalyse a chemical reaction (in this case, triazole formation); and 
(ii) form a stable linker for the preparation of peptide-oligonucleotides, ADCs and other high-value bioconjugates
<h1 id="benefits">Benefits</h1>
<ul>
<li>Bio-orthogonal approach to functionalise biomolecules using biologically-relevant metal ions </li>
<li>Produce a single click product whilst minimising/eliminating bioconjugate oxidation and cellular toxicity associated with copper ions</li>
<li>Modular fluorogenic platform tuneable for the development of multi-colour imaging </li>
<li>Potential tool for real-time assessment of biomolecule production/tagging imaging and isolation</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="opportunity">Opportunity</h1>
 
The first patent application to protect the technology was filed in July 2019. The team are now looking for Licensees and partners to develop the technology further and optimise various end-use applications.