Handbook on Protein Purification: Industry Challenges and Technological Developments

Proteins are important biomolecules that are vital for the cellular structure and function. They perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including the catalysis of metabolic reactions, DNA replication, response to stimuli, and transporting molecules from one location to another. The technological advances in the omics areas (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metagenomics, etc.) have dramatically increased the rate of discovering new proteins. Some of them hold large opportunities for innovative research and the development of commercial products and applications. It is worth noting that the global protein ingredients market is poised to grow over the next decade to reach approximately 58.49 billion USD by 2022, with the protein therapeutics market valuing around USD 315.9 billion by 2025. Interestingly, about seventy monoclonal antibody products will be on the market by 2020 with a combined worldwide sales of about 125 billion USD. The most significant parameter for the successful commercial exploitation of proteins rely on the development of an efficient and effective isolation and purification technology, known as protein downstream processing. Downstream processing refers to the technology that involves the isolation and production of purified products from natural sources such as animal tissues, plant tissues, microorganisms or fermentation broth. The most important element of this technology is the high purification processes, most important of which is chromatography and in particular affinity chromatography. This book provides information on the resent developments of protein downstream processing and deals with the information gained over the last years from the application of protein purification technologies on different research areas. Each chapter gives key examples that cover a wide range of diverse scientific disciplines in order to provide the reader with a representative sample of the current status of the field. The present book would definitely be an ideal source of scientific information to the advanced students, junior researchers, and scientists involved in cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, biotechnology and other related areas.