Dr Berndt Tartsch from Malvern Instruments is to co-present a short course on 'Protein Aggregation in Biopharmaceutical Products' on 4 October 2010.
Tartsch is a protein applications specialist for size exclusion chromatography and light scattering techniques at Malvern.
He is one of three speakers presenting the pre-conference short course, which is taking place as part of the second PEGS Europe - Protein and Antibody Engineering Summit.
PEGS Europe 2010 will run alongside Biotechnica in Hannover, Germany.
The short course workshop will examine mechanistic perspectives on aggregation, tools and methods for analysis, and approaches for managing or preventing aggregation issues.
Tartsch will discuss the 'Characterisation of Protein Aggregation Using Light Scattering Techniques'.
Aggregation is a common issue associated both with protein isolation and the manufacture of biotherapeutics and its characterisation is key.
Here, chromatographic and light scattering techniques are often used as standalone techniques.
Tartsch will examine how, when used in combination, they can readily characterise protein aggregates through determination of molecular weight and hydrodynamic radius.
This is possible in a single measurement with a small amount of sample.
The techniques can also help to optimise the PEGulation process and the characterisation of protein conjugates.
The power of these techniques is exemplified in Malvern's Viscotek TDAmax, a gel permeation/size exclusion chromatography (GPC/SEC) system, which is one of a range of protein characterisation solutions from the company.
The TDAmax measures absolute molecular weight without correction or extrapolation, molecular size (Rh to less than 1nm and Rg) and intrinsic viscosity.
The system's triple detector array features a low-angle light-scattering detector, four-capillary differential viscometer and differential refractive index detector.
An optional UV or PDA (photodiode array) detector can be added to give compositional information.
