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Researchers have discovered that certain kinds of polymers can improve a protein purifier that could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money.
When prescription drugs are created, desired proteins need to be isolated from the others, a process called purifying, which is time-consuming and expensive. Capturing the proteins is a necessary step to increase the drugs’ effectiveness, according to a Michigan State University (MSU) press release.
Now, two researchers at the school have developed a method that increases the efficiency of the membrane that helps isolate proteins. The process could help drug makers reduce costs and speed new drugs to the market.
Merlin Bruening, an MSU chemist who has patented the process and is working to scale up his invention, says:
The membrane devices that we’ve manufactured can simplify protein purification by rapidly capturing the desired protein as it flows through membrane pores. Our membranes have two to three times more capacity than existing commercial devices, and they should reduce the purification process time substantially. Typically, our procedures are complete in 30 minutes or less.
At first, the researchers wanted to improve the membranes by growing extended polymer chains within the filters in a multi-step, oxygen-free process. But then the researchers found that direct adsorption — when contaminants are attracted to the surface rather than absorbed into the material — of acidic polymers at low pH was a simpler process that accomplished the same goal.
“Once our findings began steering us toward the simpler solution, we began developing simple processes to modify membranes by simply flowing polymer solutions through the membranes,” Bruening says.
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