Vaccines are created by using viruses and virus-like particles to create an immune response and are then injected into patients. What is lacking is a technique that can detect and separate monomeric (the building blocks of proteins), oligomeric (multiple monomers with few repeating units), and aggregated species.
The current technique for this application is called Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), but it comes with limitations due to its inability to restrict the particle size that can be measured. But now, German company Postnova Analytics, inventor of Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) systems, has created a new generation of Asymmetrical Flow Field Flow Fractionation (AF4), which is an advanced separation technique.
AF4 uses an unpacked separation channel instead of a packed column like SEC. AF4 systems also don’t have a stationary phase, which means that AF4 systems can use a wider range of solvents, can separate particles over a wide size range, and AF4 systems eliminate the shear force and interaction effects associated with SEC. These capabilities translate to AF4 systems being able to provide a total and complete picture of a virus, including the monomer content, aggregates, and particle fraction.