GenScript Launches Instrument For Protein, Antibody Purification

January 14, 2019

By Bio-IT World Staff 

January 14, 2019 | GenScript today announced the AmMag SA semi-automatic purification instrument, a novel technology that accelerates and simplifies protein and antibody purification, reducing the process from days to hours. The AmMag SA, developed under an exclusive license agreement with Amgen, combines the speed and high binding capacity of magnetic beads with high throughput for larger sample volumes, enabling researchers for the first time to purify up to 50 ml samples while maintaining a low endotoxin environment.

"Traditional purification instruments operate at a very low speed. Their throughput is limited to the 'one filtered sample at a time' mode of operation, rendering purification a painstakingly slow process," said GenScript Marketing Director Roumen Bogoev in a press statement. "The AmMag SA purification instrument produces similar results to traditional methods at a fraction of the time, offering organizations a new tool for accelerating the drug development process and ultimately bringing life-saving medications to market more quickly."

The AmMag SA is used in combination with the AmMag protein A beads, which are coated with a recombinant protein A that is resistant to alkaline washes. These are the only magnetic beads on the market that can be sterilized by alkaline washes prior to adding to cell culture, thereby maintaining stability. The instrument also has a built-in ultra-violet light used to sterilize it before use, as well as programs to automatically clear all the piping materials to maintain low endotoxin level environment.

"New ways of purifying proteins are critical to accelerating drug discovery process - traditional chromatography has simply become too inefficient," said John Kawooya, director of biologics optimization at Amgen, in the same statement. "We are excited to start using the AmMag SA in our own development program."