The Application Notebook
Wyatt Technology Corporation
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an ubiquitous, very high molar mass polysaccharide that has been of particular importance in opthalmic surgery. HA acts as a molecular "shock-absorber" and stabilizer for cells and its visco-elastic properties are valuable for separating tissue and maintaining shape. It is a critical component in tissue lubrication and is believed to play a leading role in wound repair. Finally, HA's property of non-pyrogenicity makes it an ideal sheath for implants, whose presence might cause the body to suffer an immune response.
Among the many benefits high molecular weight HA hold are:
HA's therapeutic effectiveness depends critically on molecular weight: the higher the molecular weight, the longer its benefit. However, because of its visco-elastic properties, standards-based GPC analysis is inappropriate for characterizing HA. There exist no standards identical to HA and the desirability of altering experimental conditions renders conventional GPC/SEC impractical.
Combining a DAWN with HPLC separation, however, provides an ideal platform for absolute characterization, since the light-scattering measurements do not depend on pump speed, polymer standards, or molecular conformation.
Figure 1: From the molar mass versus time plot, subtle differences can be seen among the samples.
A DAWN was connected to a GPC/SEC line (100 mM NaN03 buffer, TSK-Gel G6000PW column, Optilab DSP refractometer, Waters 510 pump) and the data required to determine not only absolute molar mass, but also molecular size, was generated for a variety of HA products.
Figure 2: The differential molar mass distributions calculated by ASTRA immediately confirm the large differences among the three HA samples.
Figure 1 shows the molar mass versus time (with the 90° light-scattering chromatograms in the background) for the three samples, ranging from approximately 2 million to less than 200K Daltons. Figure 2 illustrates how profoundly different the samples are by revealing their differential molar mass distributions. These indicate that the samples will behave in different ways when used medically, depending on the content of their high molecular weight HA.
Wyatt Technology Corporation
6300 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara, California 93117, USA
Tel: +1 (805) 681 9009 fax +1 (805) 681 0123
E-mail: info@wyatt.com Website: www.wyatt.com
AI and GenAI Applications to Help Optimize Purification and Yield of Antibodies From Plasma
October 31st 2024Deriving antibodies from plasma products involves several steps, typically starting from the collection of plasma and ending with the purification of the desired antibodies. These are: plasma collection; plasma pooling; fractionation; antibody purification; concentration and formulation; quality control; and packaging and storage. This process results in a purified antibody product that can be used for therapeutic purposes, diagnostic tests, or research. Each step is critical to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of the final product. Applications of AI/GenAI in many of these steps can significantly help in the optimization of purification and yield of the desired antibodies. Some specific use-cases are: selecting and optimizing plasma units for optimized plasma pooling; GenAI solution for enterprise search on internal knowledge portal; analysing and optimizing production batch profitability, inventory, yields; monitoring production batch key performance indicators for outlier identification; monitoring production equipment to predict maintenance events; and reducing quality control laboratory testing turnaround time.
2024 EAS Awardees Showcase Innovative Research in Analytical Science
November 20th 2024Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington, and other leading institutions took the stage at the Eastern Analytical Symposium to accept awards and share insights into their research.