German Scientists Develop Multi-Step Reactor

Gerald Drger and colleagues from University of Hannover in Leibniz, Germany, have developed a system that enables immobilization and purification of enzymes in the same reactor, which can then be used for a variety of enzymatic syntheses. Using this technique it is possible to obtain ready-to-use enzyme reactors from crude protein mixtures within minutes.

The system uses immobilised Ni-NTA (nitrilotriacetic acid) with a new tyrosine linker, attached to polymeric materials inside the reactor chamber. The reactor is integrated into an HPLC set-up. The NTA component is used in metal ion affinity chromatography, which in turn can be used to purify His6-tagged proteins from crude cell extracts. The polymeric materials in the reactor have also been altered to be more polar, ideal for biological molecules.