Aspecific interaction of proteins with polymer surfaces

Membrane filtration is a common step in the purification-of biotechnological products. These processes suffer significantly due to adsorption of proteins and concentration polarization, both reducing the efficiency. By considering the origins of interactions between proteins and their environment - namely electrostatic, entropic-hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding and dispersion forces - membrane modifications have been made so as to reduce these interactions. Results demonstrate that this approach does produce better efficiency membranes. The other aspects considered are effects associated with protein-protein interactions. It is demonstrated that optimisation of these for better filtration efficiency is also possible. (-z-