Senior Application Engineer, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
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Webinar: An Introduction to characterization of biomolecules using analytical ultracentrifugation
June 18, 2019 @ 8:00 am - 9:00 am EDT
ABSTRACT:
DATE: June 18, 2019
TIME: 8:00am PDT
TIME: 8:00am PDT
Analytical Ultracentrifugation (AUC) is one of the most powerful biophysical tools used today for the characterization of biological samples ranging from small drug molecules to intact viruses, vesicles and microparticles. AUC works with biological samples in the native state and does not depend on a reporter species or custom-coated substrates which are required by techniques such as NMR, EPR, SPR and fluorescence spectroscopy. AUC separates biomolecules based upon both molecular mass and anisotropy, unlike Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), which separates molecules based only on their hydrodynamic volume. Furthermore, AUC is not just useful for characterizing the oligomerization/aggregation state of biological samples, but also to quantify interactions between different species.
In this talk, we will start with the principles of analytical ultracentrifugation and take a tour through the technology behind modern AUC, including UV/Vis absorbance mode and interference mode signal detection, and look at experiment design and setup. Following, we will address the different types of AUC experiments (equilibrium and velocity), compare and contrast their merits with sample data, and touch upon the principles of data processing (to be covered in-depth in a subsequent webinar). Finally, we will explore a variety of applications with a focus on the unique advantages that AUC brings to the study of various biotherapeutics, polymers, nanoparticles, and others – and how AUC compares to and complements other analytical techniques.
Learning Objectives:
- Become familiar with the principles of analytical ultracentrifugation, the technology behind modern AUC.
- Learn the fundamentals of how to design and setup experiments.
- Learn about the different types of AUC experiments (equilibrium and velocity), compare and contrast their merits.
- Learn the basic principles behind AUC data analysis.
- Discover the unique advantages that AUC brings to the study of various biotherapeutics, polymers, nanoparticles, etc.
LabRoots is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E. ® Program. By attending this webinar, you can earn 1 Continuing Education credit once you have viewed the webinar in its entirety.
Akash Bhattacharya, PhD
Akash Bhattacharya graduated from Presidency College, India with a major in Physics and went on to a Masters’ in Physics at the Indian Institute of Science where he worked on Quantum Computing. He then moved for doctoral studies in Biophysics to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he joined the lab of Prof. Erik Zuiderweg and worked on NMR spectroscopy methods development in the context of the Structural Biology of Chaperone Proteins. After Michigan, he worked briefly at Rutgers and then eventually moved to the Dept. of Biochemistry and Structural Biology at the University of Texas Health at San Antonio. Here, he worked with Prof. Dmitri Ivanov and Prof. Borries Demeler on the enzymology of HIV infection and restriction by mammalian proteins. He also worked on projects related to oncology (DNA damage repair) and neuroscience (voltage gated ion channels), using a wide variety of techniques ranging from X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, molecular dynamics and analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC). He collaborated with Prof. Demeler to extend AUC methods to novel enzymatic systems resulting in publications in PNAS, Cell Reports, Nature Scientific Reports, etc. Akash joined Beckman Coulter Life Sciences in Oct 2018. He is based in the Colorado R&D center and works on developing new AUC applications. His research interests include extending AUC methodology to new therapeutic areas such as AAV capsids (gene therapy), liposomal drug carriers and others.
Ross VerHeul
Senior Applications Scientist – Beckman Coulter
Ross holds formal training spanning biology to synthetic organic chemistry and wide-ranging expertise in microfluidic applications paired with the production, purification, and characterization of a multitude of biomaterials for use in vitro and in vivo. Such materials include synthetic and natural proteins, polymers, nanoparticles, and viral & non-viral vectors for gene therapy.