Is it possible to unboil an egg?

Scientists from the University of California, Irvine said they found a way to unboil an egg. This process is considered important as it can help reduce the cost of any biotechnology process which requires the folding of proteins.

The scientists said they were able to unboil an egg by untangling its proteins.

Gregory Weiss, a biochemistry professor at UCI and one of the scientists involved in the study said, “Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg […] in our paper, we describe a device for pulling apart tangled proteins and allowing them to refold. We start with egg whites boiled for 20 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius and return a key protein in the egg to working order.”

“It’s not so much that we’re interested in processing the eggs; that’s just demonstrating how powerful this process is […] The real problem is there are lots of cases of gummy proteins that you spend way too much time scraping off your test tubes, and you want some means of recovering that material,” he added.

Weiss also explained that the traditional method of untangling proteins (this is the equivalent process of dialysis) takes four days at the most but with the new technique, they said it can be done in minutes.

This new technique is expected to reduce cost of food protection, cancer treatments and other segments of what is a $160 billion global biotechnology industry.

How did Mr. Weiss and his team managed to unboil an egg and untangle its proteins?

Mr. Weiss and his colleagues worked on recreating a clear protein known as lysozyme once an egg has been boiled by adding a urea substance which chews away at the whites. In return, the solid material was liquefied. Since the proteins were still balled up (it happens after it is boiled), the scientists used a vortex fluid device developed by Professor Colin Raston’s laboratory in South Australia’s Flinders University to force the tiny pieces back into their proper, untangled form.

The University of California Irvine patented the new technology and are now partnering with other groups to make the technology a commercial one.