MOST BIOCHEMICAL SEPARATIONS IN USE TODAY STEM FROM THE ANALYTICAL, BENCH-SCALE TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED BY BIOCHEMISTS;THESE INCLUDE CHROMATOGRAPHY, PRECIPITATION, AND ELECTRO- PHORESIS.

MOST BIOCHEMICAL SEPARATIONS IN USE TODAY STEM FROM THE ANALYTICAL, BENCH-SCALE TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED BY BIOCHEMISTS;THESE INCLUDE CHROMATOGRAPHY, PRECIPITATION, AND ELECTRO- PHORESIS. WHILE THESE METHODS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THE SCALES FOR WHICH THEY WERE DEVELOPED AND UNDER PRESCRIBED CONDITIONS, THEY SUFFER FROM LOSS IN RESOLUTION AND EFFECTIVENESS ON SCALE-UP. MOREOVER, BY THEIR VERY NATURE THEY ARE TIME CONSUMING AND BATCH-TYPE IN THEIR MODE OF OPERATION. THE SPECIFIC AIM OF THIS PHASE I RESEARCH IS TO EXPLORE THE APPLICATION OF NEW CONCEPTS IN PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE PURIFICATION USING REVERSE MICELLE EXTRACTION. THE PRIMARY FOCUS IS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW LIQUID MEMBRANE AND ADSORPTION EXTRACTION PROCESSES FOR THE SIMPLE AND RAPIDRECOVERY, PURIFICATION, AND CONCENTRATION OF PEPTIDES AND PROTEINS. THESE PROCESSES HAVE THE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGE OF BEING ABLE TO HANDLE LARGE VOLUMES OF SOLUTION IN A STABLE AND CONTINUOUS OPERATION. MEMBRANES AND POROUS BEAD ADSORBENTS WILL BE IMPREGNATED WITH ORGANIC SOLVENTS CONTAINING SURFACTANTS CAPABLE OF FORMING REVERSED MICELLES THAT SOLUBILIZE THESE SOLUTES IN THE APOLAR SOLVENT. LABORATORY STUDIES WILL BE CARRIED OUT WITH SUITABLE MODEL PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE SYSTEMS TO DETERMINE THE EXTRACTION PROFILES AND THE KINETIC DIFFUSION COEFFICIENTS FOR THE ADSORPTION AND MEMBRANE PROCESSES.