Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS March Meeting
Volume 54, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 16–20, 2009; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Session T5: Industrial Biophysics |
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Sponsoring Units: FIAP DBP Chair: Philip Wyatt Room: 401/402 |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
T5.00001: Virus Characterization by FFF-MALS Assay Invited Speaker: Adequate biophysical characterization of influenza virions is important for vaccine development. The influenza virus vaccines are produced from the allantoic fluid of developing chicken embryos. The process of viral replication produces a heterogeneous mixture of infectious and non-infectious viral particles with varying states of aggregation. The study of the relative distribution and behavior of different subpopulations and their inter-correlation can assist in the development of a robust process for a live virus vaccine. This report describes a field flow fractionation and multiangle light scattering (FFF-MALS) method optimized for the analysis of size distribution and total particle counts. A method using a combination of asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AFFFF) and multiangle light scattering (MALS) techniques has been shown to improve the estimation of virus particle counts and the amount of aggregated virus in laboratory samples. The FFF-MALS method was compared with several other methods such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), size exclusion chromatography followed by MALS (SEC-MALS), quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT Q-PCR), median tissue culture dose (TCID(50)), and the fluorescent focus assay (FFA). The correlation between the various methods for determining total particle counts, infectivity and size distribution is reported. The pros and cons of each of the analytical methods are discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
T5.00002: Determination of reversible protein equilibrium association coefficients using light scattering Invited Speaker: The characterization in solution of reversible protein associations as well as associations between proteins and small molecules is essential in many areas of science. Understanding cellular function or developing and formulating pharmaceuticals or other biologically active materials often requires quantitation of such associations. Most pharmaceuticals have functionality due solely to association with molecules within the body, and the discovery and accurate characterization of these associations is a key element for pharmaceutical development. Unfortunately, most methods used to measure associations of proteins require either immobilizing the protein on a surface (e.g. surface plasmon resonance), which potentially alters the protein characteristics, or require considerable time and effort and large quantities of sample (e.g. analytical ultracentrifugation, isothermal titration calorimetry). Light scattering based measurements of reversible association coefficients require much less sample and may be performed much more rapidly than other free solution techniques. In this talk I describe how static and dynamic light scattering may each independently be used to measure equilibrium association coefficients between proteins in free solution, and may also be used to observe and quantitate the association of small molecules with them. I present background theory for both static and dynamic light scattering measurements of equilibrium associations, and examples of measurements made of both model systems and of systems with commercial relevance in the pharmaceutical industry. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
T5.00003: Novel medical imaging technologies for disease diagnosis and treatment Invited Speaker: New clinical approaches for disease diagnosis, treatment and monitoring will rely on the ability of simultaneously obtaining anatomical, functional and biological information. Medical imaging technologies in combination with targeted contrast agents play a key role in delivering with ever increasing temporal and spatial resolution structural and functional information about conditions and pathologies in cardiology, oncology and neurology fields among others. This presentation will review the clinical motivations and physics challenges in on-going developments of new medical imaging techniques and the associated contrast agents. Examples to be discussed are: \begin{itemize} \item The enrichment of computer tomography with spectral sensitivity for the diagnosis of vulnerable sclerotic plaque. \item Time of flight positron emission tomography for improved resolution in metabolic characterization of pathologies. \item Magnetic particle imaging -a novel imaging modality based on in-vivo measurement of the local concentration of iron oxide nano-particles - for blood perfusion measurement with better sensitivity, spatial resolution and 3D real time acquisition. \item Focused ultrasound for therapy delivery. \end{itemize} [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
T5.00004: Measurement Frontiers in Molecular Biology Invited Speaker: Developments of molecular measurements and manipulations have long enabled forefront research in evolution, genetics, biological development and its dysfunction, and the impact of external factors on the behavior of cells. Measurement remains at the heart of exciting and challenging basic and applied problems in molecular and cell biology. Methods to precisely determine the identity and abundance of particular molecules amongst a complex mixture of similar and dissimilar types require the successful design and integration of multiple steps involving biochemical manipulations, separations, physical probing, and data processing. Accordingly, today's most powerful methods for characterizing life at the molecular level depend on coordinated advances in applied physics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, and engineering. This is well illustrated by recent approaches to the measurement of DNA, RNA, proteins, and intact cells. Such successes underlie well founded visions of how molecular biology can further assist in answering compelling scientific questions and in enabling the development of remarkable advances in human health. These visions, in turn, are motivating the interdisciplinary creation of even more comprehensive measurements. As a further and closely related consequence, they are motivating innovations in the conceptual and practical approaches to organizing and visualizing large, complex sets of interrelated experimental results and distilling from those data compelling, informative conclusions. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
T5.00005: Biophysics at the Boundaries: The Next Problem Sets Invited Speaker: The interface between physics and biology is one of the fastest growing subfields of physics. As knowledge of such topics as cellular processes and complex ecological systems advances, researchers have found that progress in understanding these and other systems requires application of more quantitative approaches. Today, there is a growing demand for quantitative and computational skills in biological research and the commercialization of that research. The fragmented teaching of science in our universities still leaves biology outside the quantitative and mathematical culture that is the foundation of physics. This is particularly inopportune at a time when the needs for quantitative thinking about biological systems are exploding. More physicists should be encouraged to become active in research and development in the growing application fields of biophysics including molecular genetics, biomedical imaging, tissue generation and regeneration, drug development, prosthetics, neural and brain function, kinetics of nonequilibrium open biological systems, metabolic networks, biological transport processes, large-scale biochemical networks and stochastic processes in biochemical systems to name a few. In addition to moving into basic research in these areas, there is increasing opportunity for physicists in industry beginning with entrepreneurial roles in taking research results out of the laboratory and in the industries who perfect and market the inventions and developments that physicists produce. In this talk we will identify and discuss emerging opportunities for physicists in biophysical and biotechnological pursuits ranging from basic research through development of applications and commercialization of results. This will include discussion of the roles of physicists in non-traditional areas apart from academia such as patent law, financial analysis and regulatory science and the problem sets assigned in education and training that will enable future biophysicists to fill these roles. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 5:30PM - 6:06PM |
T5.00006: Characterizing Protein Complexes with UV absorption, Light Scattering, and Refractive Index Detection. Invited Speaker: Many modern pharmaceuticals and naturally occurring biomolecules consist of complexes of proteins and polyethylene glycol or carbohydrates. In the case of vaccine development, these complexes are often used to induce or amplify immune responses. For protein therapeutics they are used to modify solubility and function, or to control the rate of degradation and elimination of a drug from the body. Characterizing the stoichiometry of these complexes is an important industrial problem that presents a formidable challenge to analytical instrument designers. Traditional analytical methods, such as using florescent tagging, chemical assays, and mass spectrometry perturb the system so dramatically that the complexes are often destroyed or uncontrollably modified by the measurement. A solution to this problem consists of fractionating the samples and then measuring the fractions using sequential non-invasive detectors that are sensitive to different components of the complex. We present results using UV absorption, which is primarily sensitive to the protein fraction, Light Scattering, which measures the total weight average molar mass, and Refractive Index detection, which measures the net concentration. We also present a solution of the problem inter-detector band-broadening problem that has heretofore made this approach impractical. Presented will be instrumentation and an analysis method that overcome these obstacles and make this technique a reliable and robust way of non-invasively characterizing these industrially important compounds. [Preview Abstract] |
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