Paraytec's Actipix D-100 has been chosen by the University of Cambridge to enable research into high-throughput micro-channel separations of recombinant proteins within microcapillary films (MCFs).
Prof Nigel Slater, Dr Nick Darton and Dr Nuno Reis at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the university are developing high-throughput micro-channel separations for recombinant proteins within MCFs.
MCFs contain any number of uniform, parallel capillaries within a flat polymer film and they can be fabricated from a range of low-cost polymers using a low-cost extrusion process.
Slater said: 'Our team chose the Actipix system from Paraytec to study this process because it is uniquely designed to simultaneously image up to eight different capillaries at the same time, providing spatial, temporal and concentration data of adsorbed and eluted proteins.
'Our research has been generously funded by the Bioprocessing Research Industry Club [BRIC] of the BBSRC,' he added.
The Actipix D100 quantitative UV area imaging system is said to provide superior performance over existing micro and nano flow detectors and it opens up possibilities that were never before possible using conventional detectors.
Applications for the company's patented Actipix technology can be broadly classified into two types: area-imaging or capillary based.
Area-imaging applications include the real-time study of diffusion processes, the inline quantification and sizing of biopharmaceuticals, dissolution/solubility testing and membrane transport studies.
Capillary-based applications include use of the Actipix D100 as a sensitive and selective detector for multiplexed capillary electrophoresis (CE), nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC) and capillary LC experiments.
Paraytec is a scientific instrument company based in York, UK, which designs, develops and manufactures detectors.
