Protein Purification

Fleet Bioprocessing Ltd. provide preparative and analytical chromatography services for all applications related to proteins and other biomolecules. We can advise on appropriate techniques and media for your specific needs, and can handle batch sizes from µg to tens of grams.

Methodologies available for both production and analytical needs include:

Size exclusion chromatography (gel filtration)
Ion exchange chromatography (cation and anion-based)
Hydrophobic interaction chromatography.
Affinity chromatography, for example Protein A and Protein G techniques for high-performance antibody purification. We can also prepare any bespoke affinity matrices you might require, eg for analyte-stripping of serum or plasma.

Fleet are also experienced in "first cut" purification techniques such as ammonium sulfate precipitation, dialysis and membrane diafiltration.

Fleet possess in-house lyophilisation facilities for freeze-drying your product if required.

Example Projects

Wasp venom purification method developed by Fleet

A crude insect extract was purified by high-resolution size exclusion chromatography (HR-SEC) to yield a purified product, multiple batches of which performed well in a challenging allergy assay. The purification procedure and subsequent biotinylation method are documented in GMP format for routine use.

Long-term monoclonal antibody purification contract for global IVD vendor

For more than 10 years, Fleet have routinely carried out High Resolution Size Exclusion Chromatography (HR-SEC) purification of a crude customer-supplied antibody to yield 99% pure product. This work is executed and documented to GMP standards, allowing the purified antibody to be used in IVD products marketed worldwide.

Optimisation of multi-stage affinity purification procedure for polyclonal antibodies

Fleet regularly develop Protein A / size exclusion purification protocols for customer-supplied polyclonal antiserum samples, to yield well defined, consistent batches of pure antibody. In a typical example for a UK-based research organisation, the purified antibody samples were also biotinylated by Fleet to facilitate their testing in the customer's assay system.

Fleet are never short of ideas for unusual purification challenges…

For non-standard purification challenges, it is often impossible to know in advance which method will give the best result. With their deep chromatography expertise, Fleet have an extensive toolbox of methods at their disposal: in one example for a major UK diagnostics company, methods evaluated for the purification of a derivatised antibody fragment included anion and cation exchange chromatography (IEC), hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) and a variety of affinity-based methods.