After completion of the human genome project, proteomics research has increasingly attracted the attention of the scientific community. However, progress in this field has been restrained by the difficulties encountered in isolating and purifying proteins from complex samples.
The expression of recombinant proteins with a poly-histidine tag and their subsequent purification by immobilised metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) tackled this problem and rapidly evolved into popular proteomics tools due to their cost-efficiency. Despite the plethora of available IMAC techniques, the biotechnology industry is still in search of perfection.
Vivascience has recently made a significant move with the release of Vivapure 8-to-96 well cobalt-chelate kit, a ready-to-use and robot-friendly system for high-throughput purification of His-tagged proteins.
The kit makes use of an innovative IMAC-membrane adsorber technology: an open-pore membrane containing cobalt-IDA (iminodiacetic acid) chelates enables convective sample flow along with faster protein capture, thus overcoming the limited diffusion rates of traditional bead-based chromatography.
Due to negligible unspecific binding and low hold-up, this technology assures high and reproducible recoveries of ultrapure target proteins.
In addition, the Vivapure kit features a modular format; depending on the sample number, up to twelve individual 8-strips are inserted into frames with the footprint of 96-well plates while spare strips are safely stored for future use. This modular design is compatible with both multichannel pipettes and automated workstations and is therefore flexible for medium- to high-throughput applications, like library screening and sample preparation for spotting protein arrays.
Vivascience AG is based in Hanover, Germany. www.vivascience.com
