Steven Ray Wilson's AFFL LC–MS system runs thousands of injections per column, but he calls validation and standardization the field's real barrier.
News|Videos|September 30, 2026
The Return of Perfusion Chromatography
Author(s)Daniel Meston, Alasdair Matheson
Perfusion chromatography offers improved separation of oligonucleotide biotherapeutics at ultra-high velocities.
Advertisement
At ISC 2026, LCGC International spoke to Daniel Meston from Agilent Technologies about his presentation “Perfusion Chromatography Enables Highly Efficient Separation of Oligonucleotide Biotherapeutics at Ultra-high Velocities”,1which explored the principles, development, and re-investigation of the attributes ofperfusion chromatography. The concept of perfusion chromatography, which was originally developed in the late 1980s for biomolecule separation, involves actively assisting analyte movement through particles rather than relying solely on diffusion. The interview highlights its potential to improve analytical throughput by enabling very high linear velocities without substantial loss of chromatographic performance. This attribute is particularly relevant for oligonucleotides, which typically require slow flow rates due to their limited diffusion. Effective perfusion requires columns with sufficiently large pore sizes, with approximately 2000–4000 Å identified as a suitable range, according to Meston. However, he emphasized that operating at high linear velocities introduces increased back pressure and, consequently, column dimensions, particle size, and temperature must be carefully considered to balance analytical speed, efficiency, and system pressure.
Meston answered the following questions:
- What is perfusion chromatography, why is it being re-evaluated for applications in modern biotherapeutics, particularly for oligonucleotides?
- What potential benefits can it offer the analyst for oligonucleotide analysis?
- How does perfusion improve the efficiency during the separation?"
- What type of columns can perform perfusion chromatography?
- What are the trade-offs for working at very high linear velocities?
Reference
- Meston D. Perfusion Chromatography Enables Highly Efficient Separation of Oligonucleotide Biotherapeutics at Ultra-high Velocities. Presented at ISC 2026, in Prague, Czech Republic.
https://www.czech-in.org/cmPortalv15/Searchable/isc26/config/normal#!sessionschedule (accessed 2026-09-18).
Advertisement
Related to this article
Kinjal Bhatt and Ina Varfaj describe imposter syndrome fading through repeated exposure and conference talk rather than a single breakthrough moment.
Waters' Erin Chambers says combining column chemistry and particle-physics innovation cut a GLP-1 impurity profiling workflow from three hours to under one.
Analytical science's real unwritten rule is that you don't need to feel ready, and good results simply take patience.
Justin Miller-Schulze and Smith Purdum explain how machine learning and chemometrics can improve fire debris classification in forensic science applications.
Kinjal Bhatt argues inclusion advocacy shouldn't fall on women alone, while Ina Varfaj credits sharing the load and learning to say no for avoiding burnout.
Steven Ray Wilson defines organ-on-a-chip as organoids on microfluidic devices, tracing their small, complex samples to the case for automated online LC–MS.
Lorna Nisbet from the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, discusses a GC–MS. technique developed to detect anabolic-androgenic steroids in e-cigarettes seized from Scottish prisons.
Advertisement
Advertisement