Discussion with Fermentation Product Purification Experts
Feedback and advice fromexperts actually working in the fields of concern are valuable contributions to a successful iGEM project. To get hints how to improve our purification column, we met with two experts: Prof. Dr. Dirk Lütkemeyer, General Manager of BIBITEC GmbH, and Dr. Benjamin Müller, CEO of Biofidus AG for Analytical Services. BIBITEC GmbH was founded in 2001 and is specialized in the production of recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies. Biofidus AG is a bioanalytical company offering services in a wide variety of bioanalytical methods. They are specialized on spectroscopic, chromatographic or mass spectrometric assays focused on characterization of proteins as well as small molecules. We demonstrated and explained our prototypes and elution technique. We also prepared specific questions, like ‘what do you think about our elution technique compared to common techniques?’ and ‘Which problems and limitations could our column encounter in real world applications?’. As described in the following sections, we benefited greatly from these exchanges and made several improvements to our hardware to address the predicted challenges. Therefore, we are very thankful for their opinions and great advices.
Meeting with Prof. Dr. Dirk Lütkemeyer, General Manager of BIBITEC GmbH
We met Prof. Dr. Dirk Lütkemeyer at the 24th of August at the Center for Biotechnology. We presented our purification column and explained our light-induced elution technique. The presentation was followed by a fruitful discussion about possible challenges in real world applications like using this purification technique to purify recombinant proteins produced by our local fermentation technologies working group.
Prof. Lütkemeyer stated that our technique of the light-induced elution is very interesting and a promising alternative to proteases-cleaving sites. However, we have to validate the system profoundly. Especially interesting are the minimal amounts of light and radiation time needed for reliable back bone cleavage. He also said that our system could be very useful for companies related to the production of biomolecules like Evonik Industries AG and GE Healthcare. Nevertheless, we should improve our purification column prototype design to reduce dead space, increase potential yield and enhance the scalability. Finally, he recommended to focus on the validation of our elution system, since this is a highly innovative and promising aspect.
