Telephone (+49)231 755-2339
Fax (+49)231 755-2341
Laboratory of Plant and Process Design Emil-Figge-Str. 70 Geschossbau 2 44227 Dortmund Germany
Room G2-R3.20
Julia Sieberz studied Biochemical Engineering at the Technical University of Dortmund since 2005. She finished her degree in September 2010 with a diploma thesis dealing with the process evaluation of the extraction of Rebaudisid A from Stevia rebaudiana. Since December 2008, she is working at the Laboratory of Plant and Process Design on her PhD. Her research is focused on the purification of monoclonal antibodies with polyelectrolytes.
Due to the great demand for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for diagnostic and therapeutic applications there is a growing need to increase the throughput of the production process. In addition, a reduction of costs of goods is desired, especially in downstream processing, which often makes up to 50 – 80 % of the total costs of bioprocesses. Existing purification processes of mAbs usually consist of a series of chromatographic methods, e.g. affinity and ion exchange chromatography, which often results in high process costs. Thus it is important to develop new cost-efficient and robust purification methods which can replace traditional process concepts.
A new promising purification method is the precipitation of mAbs with polyelectrolytes. Polyelectrolytes are poly-charged polymers which can form complexes with proteins of opposite charge. Variation of solution properties, e.g. pH-value and ionic strength, causes the formation of insoluble complexes. Depending on the polymer properties, either the target protein or the impurities can be precipitated out of the fermentation broth.
