New Column Modalities for Improved Biomolecule Separations

Egidijus Machtejevas, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany (egidijus.machtejevas@merckgroup.com)

Biotherapeutics such as bio-engineered drugs, peptide therapeutics, and complete field of biotechnology represents the promise of new medical treatments for the new millennium. That implies a demand of suitable analytical methods for process monitoring and quality control of biomolecules with therapeutic purposes. Especially the HPLC is the mostly used analysis method. Most important for the HPLC analysis are the properties of the column. As the rule of thumb it is widely accepted, that in order for the separated molecules not to be influenced by size exclusion process the pore should be at least 10 times bigger than the molecule. Therefore about 100 kDa molecule would require around 300 A pores. We will discuss two column modalities that have now expanded their utility into the large molecule separations arena: monolithic silica columns and superficially porous particle (SPP) packed columns.  Selected aspects of the physical parameters of the stationary phase will be discussed in relation to improved efficiencies and throughput over traditional fully porous particle (FPP) packed columns.  In addition, applications illustrating the relevance of these column modalities in regard to characterizing biomacromolecules and advantages of these column modalities over FPP packed columns will be presented and discussed.

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Short Biography of Presenting Author

Egidijus Machtejevas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania where he studied chemistry and biotechnology at Kaunas University of Technology. After gaining his PhD in analytical chemistry in 2001 he worked as a post-doc with Prof Unger at Mainz University. He joined Merck KGaA in Darmstadt in 2008, where he is currently a global senior specialist for chromatography. Egidijus Machtejevas has twenty five scientific papers and ten book chapters to his name, and his major research areas include multidimensional liquid chromatography, proteomics and the development of monolithic stationary phases for chromatography.