[Webinar/Hybrid] Dynamics of Concentrated Protein Solutions

by Prof. Anna Stradner (Division of Physical Chemistry & Lund Institute of advanced Neutron and X-ray Science LINXS, Lund University)

Monday 27 Jun 2022, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Berlin

PH HS 3 (Physics Department)

Dynamic properties of protein solutions under crowded conditions are difficult to predict and control. This considerably complicates the formulation of stable and injectable, high-concentration biopharmaceuticals. An example for a widespread physiological condition based on dynamic properties is presbyopia, or age-related farsightedness, where the pathological stiffening of the eye lens can be related to a liquid-solid transition of the protein mixtures inside the eye lens cells. It is thus essential to achieve a quantitative understanding of the link between the molecular structure of the proteins and the interactions between them, and how these interactions influence the stability, dynamics and flow properties of the solutions as a function of their concentration. Here we use a variety of advanced characterization techniques covering an extended range of time and length scales such as neutron spin echo, small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering, 3D cross-correlation light scattering and microrheology, combined with state-of-the-art computer simulations to assess and predict interparticle interactions and their impact on the dynamics and flow behavior of crowded protein solutions. We will address the enormous influence of weak attractive interactions known to exist between many globular proteins, and demonstrate the dramatic effect of an interaction potential anisotropy such as attractive patches and shape anisotropy on the local dynamic properties.