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2024

Lipid nanoparticles (are leading non viral carriers for therapeutics, offering versatility in encapsulating diverse payloads Their manufacturing superiority over viral systems allows for modularity, speed, and scalability However, this modularity poses challenges in purification and characterization due to sample uniqueness LNPs require downstream processing for in vivo application and adherence to critical quality attributes ( Analytical methods for those currently predominantly require undesirable particle disassembly beforehand.

Monolithic columns offer ideal chromatography for LNPs due to laminar flow, minimizing shear forces, and surface modification enabling selective options Here is presented the purification method for LNPs on monolithic columns utilizing the PATfix® analytical chromatographic system, efficiently separating LNPs from free cargo.

An analytical scale two dimensional chromatographic tool was developed It delivers comprehensive characterization of encapsulation efficiency, nucleic acid content, degradation, and separation of co encapsulated cargos, without any sample pre treatment Highly tunable and automatable, this method maximizes efficiency and facilitates precise separation of LNP populations.

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2023

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a diverse group of particles secreted by all living cells. Numerous different therapeutic applications of both native and engineered EVs are currently in different stages of clinical development. Nevertheless, considerable challenges are still present in the manufacturing, purification and analytics of EVs. Many factors can influence the final product, therefore an all-inclusive approach to development of the bioprocess is needed. Cell culture parameters and production platform selection might alter the number and composition of EVs. Furthermore, raw materials used in upstream production, such as media and supplements, can greatly impact the chromatographic purification. In this study, we evaluated EV production in different HEK293-derived cell lines. Separation on a strong anion exchange column CIMmultus®-EV was used to assess the abundance of different EV populations. Multi-detector PATfix® SEC analytics coupled with antibody labeling was then used to analyze chromatographic fractions. Furthermore, the analytical methods and performance in downstream processing were applied in the optimization of the upstream process.

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Cells release extracellular vesicles (EVs) of different sizes and intracellular origin. Due to their heterogenicity, the isolation of the target EV population from a mixture of supernatant-derived particles can be challenging. Anion exchange chromatography (AEX) exploits the negative charge on EV surface molecules for binding to the positively charged solid phase. CIMmultus® EV, an AEX chromatography monolith column, can separate EVs in subpopulations based on charge and offers insight into the heterogenicity of particles. Besides the availability of preparative tools for separation, combining multiple orthogonal and complementary characterization tools is crucial for defining the EV product of interest. In this work, we used a multiple-detector PATfix® system for the analysis of CIMmultus EV-fractionated samples. Samples were analyzed for the presence of EV-related tetraspanins using the fluorescence detector. PATfix MALS 3609 detector was used for the analysis of particle-containing samples and calculation of particle sizes.

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2022

Endotoxins are robust and persistent impurity, which are native to majority of phage substrates. Two anion exchangers, CIMmultus PrimaS and H-Bond, were tested for their capacity for endotoxin removal in comparison to well known strong anion exchanger, CIMmultus QA. 

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Extracellular vesicles (EV) are lipid bound products secreted by cells. Among them, exosomes have great potential for clinical applications. Animal and human-derived components used in cell culture, such as fetal bovine serum (FBS), naturally contain exosomes that can cross-contaminate the desired product. In order to study exosomes derived from cells of interest, multiple producers have come up with exosome-depleted FBS (EV (-) FBS) generated using different approaches. In this work we evaluated commercially available EV (-) FBS supplements for residual exosome content and tested their performance in upstream exosome production process. The analysis was performed with PATfix high pressure liquid chromatography system using PATfix size exclusion (SEC) analytical method.

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2020

Removal of host cell DNA is essential for all human-injectable biologics. This poster shows a method for achieving low host cell levels in preparations of exosomes. Purified exosome samples were prepared with anion exchange chromatography (AEC) and pre-treated with tangetial flow filtration (TFF) and nuclease treatment. Results are compared with an experimental control using TFF and size exclusion chromatohraphy (SEC).

The steps in purification process are illustrated by analytical size exclusion chromatography (SEC) on PATfix system with in-line UV, MALS and fluorescence detectors and by staining with Picogreen reagent. This technique visualizes sample composition by size, UV, light scattering and fluorescent properties.

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2019

Exosomes fulfill a critical role as communicators among cells, with targeting and message content depending on their surface receptors and payload. This makes them obvious candidates for an extensive range of diagnostic, therapeutic applications and a need for a fast, robust and scalable purification procedure.

CIMmultus™ monolithic columns are designed to meet the special fractionation needs of very large biologics like exosomes.

We show examples of exosome purification from cell culture with CORNERSTONE Exosome Process Development Pack and analysis of exosomal vesicle populations by Image stream flow cytometry.

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This poster shows how Multi-Angle Light Scattering detector and Fluorescence detector couppled to PATfix analytical system can be used to track extracellular vesicles through purification process. Samples were analyzed by analytical size exclusion chromatography (SEC). On SEC cell culture components diffuze into pores of chromatographic media and are separated (mostly) based on size. Particles larger than the media pore size are excluded in the void peak. This peak represents extracellular vesicles including apoptosomes, microvesicles and exosomes as well as cell debris and aggregates.

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One of the handicaps of working with bacteriophages is the long duration required to perform plaque assays. Plaque assays also impose questions about accuracy and precision relative to the scale and experience of the persons performing and interpreting them. This poster presents a pair of high precision, high accuracy chromatography-based assays that permit determination of phage concentration in less than 1 hour. Sensitivity of UV absorbance is poor because of the low concentration of phages. However, phage sensitivity is strongly amplified by monitoring the chromatogram with either fluorescence or MALS. Fluorescence works by measuring the fluorescence emission from tryptophan residues of the phage proteins. MALS works by passing a laser beam through the sample and reading the scatter produced when it encounters a particle. Larger species generate more scatter.

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Bacteriophages represent immense potential as therapeutic agents. Many of the most compelling applications of bacteriophages involve human therapy, some pertinent to gene therapy, others involving antibiotic replacement. In bacteriophage research and therapy, most applications ask for highly purified phage suspensions, as such it is crucial to reduce proteins, endotoxins, DNA and other contaminants. The most common technique for purification is ultracentrifugation using cesium chloride gradients. This technique is elaborate, cumbersome, expensive and difficult to scale-up.
Alternative techniques for purification are usually time consuming and affect phage recovery and/or viability. In this study we present efficient two-step chromatographic purification method with binding phages to a stationary phase - Convective Interaction Media (CIM®) monoliths. The aim of the study was to develop robust, fast and effective virus purification platform that can be used for several types of bacteriophages for any application. In this work bacterial lysate with bacteriophage T4 (host E.Coli) was used.

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2014

Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles that are released by many different cell types. They are involved in the transport of a wide range of signalling molecules, including mRNA, microRNA and proteins. Exosomes have been found into body fluids and multiple roles have been ascribed to exosomes, in particular in cell signalling where it has been demonstrated their correlation to disease progression and their overexpression as specific tumour cell biomarkers, suggesting their important role in their diagnosis.

This initial screening oriented towards the separation of exosomes from a cell culture supernatant, has been developed by BIA Separations in collaboration with Exosomics Siena. Exosomes used for this study were cultivated in two different cell lines, MeWo and LNCap, and, after the harvesting, a relatively pure target molecule was obtained after several centrifugations, filtrations and batch affinity capture step with a commercial purification kit. In order to speed-up the process and bring current DSP on a higher level, a novel purification approach based on chromatography, using CIM® monolithic columns was investigated. Monolithic supports represent a new generation of chromatographic media. Due to their large inner channel diameters and enhanced mass transfer characteristics, methacrylate monoliths offer efficient and fast separation of large biomolecules like vescicles, pDNA, viruses and monoclonal antibodies. High binding capacity, good product recovery and resolution are also benefits of monoliths. Different samples, (Standard batch purified exosomes, Culture supernatant filtered, Culture supernatant non-filtered), derived from MeWo and LNCap culture media,, were screened. QA, SO3, DEAE and OH CIM 1mL tube - 6μm pore size were screened. CIM® QA - 6μm pores was chosen.

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In recent years bacteriophages were identified as a useful potential tool for different applications such as alternative to antibiotics, detection of pathogenic bacteria, delivery vehicles for protein and DNA vaccines and as gene therapy delivery vehicles. For all listed fields of use it is important that phages are highly purified with preserved biological activity. Phage and other virus purification have traditionally been carried out by CsCl2 density gradient ultracentrifugation, which is however difficult to be scaled-up. An alternative is chromatography, which already proved to be efficient for separation and purification of certain virus types. Methacrylate monoliths (CIM Convective Interaction Media® monolithic columns) were designed for purification of bionanoparticles and they already proved to be very efficient for concentration and purification of several plant and human viruses (influenza A, influenza B, adenovirus type 5, hepatitis A and others).

Our aim was to investigate whether CIM methacrylate monolithic columns can be implemented for purification of phages. Staphylococcus aureus phage VDX-10 was selected. Chromatographic support chemistry and buffer screening led to development of purification method on strong anion exchanger. Optimised single step purification method developed for S. aureus VDX-10 phage on CIM® QA monolithic column resulted in efficient removal of host cell DNA and proteins with high recovery of viable phage.

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2009

Bacteriophages were in recent years identified as a useful potential tool for different biotechnological applications such as alternative to antibiotics, detection of pathogenic bacteria, delivery vehicles for protein and DNA vaccines and as gene therapy delivery vehicles (1). For all listed fields of use it is important that phages are highly purified with preserved biological activity. Phage and other virus purification have traditionally been carried out by CsCl density gradient ultracentrifugation, which is however difficult to be scaled-up. An alternative is chromatography already proved to be efficient for purification and concentration of certain virus types.

One of the key issues using chromatography is processing time and capacity of the resin. Novel type of chromatographic resin named monoliths was already proved to be very efficient for fast separation and purification of macromolecules as are large proteins, DNA and viruses (2,3,4).

Our aim was to investigate whether Convective Interaction Media (CIM) methacrylate monolithic columns can be implemented for purification and concentration of phage T4 (virus for E.coli). Chromatographic method using linear gradient was implemented to investigate conditions for phage elution and to establish the optimized chromatographic method applying step gradient. We analyzed phage recovery and purity together with method reproducibility.

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2003

Gene therapy which is becoming more and more important in human health care requires the purification of high molecular mass compounds, so called nanoparticles (e. g. viruses and plasmids). The method of choice to ensure proper purity would be chromatography.

Most of the chromatographic supports available on the market at the moment can not follow the requests for such work due to low binding capacity for large molecules, limitation with regards to the time of the separation process and requests for CIP (cleaning in place) and SIP (sanitation in place).

Monolithic supports represent a new generation of chromatographic supports. In contrast to conventional particle supports, where the void volume between individual porous particles is unavoidable, these supports consist of a single monolith highly interconnected with larger and smaller open flow-through channels. Due to the structure, molecules to be separated are transported to the active sites on the stationary phase by convection, resulting in very short separation times. This is especially true for large molecules.

In this work we will present the use of monolithic supports for the separation of different nanoparticles on analytical and preparative scales. It will be shown that monolithic supports can overcome the limitations of particle-based supports for the analytics and isolation of big molecules and represent a major step towards the safe and efficient purification or production of nanoparticles.

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1999

High performance membrane chromatography (HPMC) proved to be a very efficient method for fast protein separations. Recently, it was shown to be applicable also for the isocratic separation of plasmid DNAconformations. However, no study about the separation of small molecules was performed until now. In this work, we investigated the possibility of gradient and isocratic separations of small molecules with Convective Interaction Media (CIM) disks of different chemistries. We proved that it was possible to achieve efficient separations of oligonucleotides and peptides in the ion-exchange mode as well as the separation of small hydrophobic molecules in the reversed phase mode. Fairly good separation of four oligonucleotides could be achieved on the disk of 0.3 mm thickness. The effect of the gradient parameters on the resolution in the case of gradient mode was studied and compared with the separation under isocratic conditions.

It was shown that similar peak resolution can be achieved in both gradient and isocratic modes. In addition, it was found that the flow rate does not have a pronounced influence on the resolution in the flow rate range between 1 and 10 mL/min. However, it seems that the resolution with the flow rate even slightly increases as a consequence of the increased pore accessibility. In accordance with conventional particle HPLC columns, the resolution increases with the monolith thickness. On the other hand, the mobile phase composition has to be carefully adjusted to obtain optimal resolution, especially in the case of isocratic separations. Because of this feature, CIM monoliths seem to be competitive to other, commercially available stationary phases.

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Organic acids are important metabolites of several biochemical pathways in microorganisms and as such they are frequent main or by-products in different bioprocesses. Consequently, a demand for their monitoring is often present. One of the most applied methods for organic acids determination is certainly HPLC using different separation mechanisms such as reversed-phase, ion-exchange or ion-exclusion chromatography, all based on separation under isocratic flow conditions. To achieve the isocratic separation, multiple steps of adsorption-desorption process are needed and therefore conventional chromatographic columns with long layer of separation material were considered as a necessary tool for achieving this effect.

Recently, it was shown that isocratic separation could also be performed on thin monolithic layers. The isocratic separations of plasmid DNA conformers (1), oligonucleotides (2, 3) and peptides (3) in the ion-exchange mode were demonstrated as well as isocratic reversed-phase separation of a mixture of steroids was obtained (3) all on thin GMA-EDMA monoliths commercially available under trademark CIM™ (Convective Interaction Media). The results indicated the possibility of applying CIM™ monolithic columns also for isocratic separation of some other small charged molecules. Since the average analysis time using CIM™ disk monolithic columns is up to a few minutes, these supports can be a material of choice for separation of organic acids.

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