MONTEGEN Into the Proteomic Arena.Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers BIOWIRE2K TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(BW HealthWire)--July 5, 2000 MONTEGEN today announced the agreement with the Italian company TALENT for the commercialization in USA of the instrument "M.I.E.R." (Multicompartment Immobilized Enzyme Reactor). It is an isoelectrically trapped enzyme reactor that integrates catalytic conversion, product separation, product concentration and catalyst recovery into a single operation. "M.I.E.R." is designed for (i) purification of molecules obtainable from a catalytic bioconversion bi·o·con·ver·sion n. The conversion of organic materials, such as plant or animal waste, into usable products or energy sources by biological processes or agents, such as certain microorganisms. process, (ii) separation of isoelectric isoelectric /iso·elec·tric/ (i?so-e-lek´trik) showing no variation in electric potential. isoelectric showing no variation in electric potential. and isoionic protein products with pIs that differ by 0,001 pH units. Both amphoteric amphoteric /am·pho·ter·ic/ (am?fo-ter´ik) having opposite characters; capable of acting as both an acid and a base; capable of neutralizing either bases or acids. am·pho·ter·ic adj. and charged substrates can be used. It is modular and built to comprise 8 flow-through (recycling) chambers: one anodic an·ode n. 1. A positively charged electrode, as of an electrolytic cell, storage battery, or electron tube. 2. The negatively charged terminal of a primary cell or of a storage battery that is supplying current. , one cathodic, one for the enzyme reactor and five chambers for collecting any desired product of the enzyme reaction. The enzyme reactor operates under an electric field, used to keep the enzyme confined into the reaction chamber (via an isoelectric mechanism) and to drive in and out of the reaction chamber any charged substrate, product or co-factor. The enzyme is immobilized between two isoelectric membranes encompassing the isoelectric point of the enzyme and the pH of its optimum activity. Since it is not covalently bound to any support but it is free in solution, its kinetic parameters are identical with or very close to the parameters of the enzyme in solution. Each compartment has a membrane pump for circulating the reagent flow through the cells and the reservoirs. Sampling the reaction is always possible during the process. The inside temperature of the instrument is regulated by a Peltier element from 8 degrees to 48 degrees C. Handling of the cell tubing connections and washing of the machine are user-friendly operations. In addition to be instrument / technology providers, MONTEGEN and TALENT develop solutions tailored to the specific requests from proteomics' players. Some of the realized reactors: -- Bioconversion of penicillin-G by penicillin-G acylase -- Histidine decarboxylase reactor -- Production of pure D-phenylglycine by penicillin-G acylase -- Thrombin thrombin: see blood clotting. reactor -- Trypsin trypsin, enzyme that acts to degrade protein; it is often referred to as a proteolytic enzyme, or proteinase. Trypsin is one of the three principal digestive proteinases, the other two being pepsin and chymotrypsin. reactor -- Urease urease /ure·ase/ (u´re-as) an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide; it is a nickel protein of microorganisms and plants that is used in clinical assays of plasma urea concentrations. reactor Protein chips based on this technology are under investigation. About the two partners: MONTEGEN (www.montegen.com) with offices in Italy (Milano, Torino) and U.S.A. (Tallahassee, FL., New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , NY) offers integrated business solutions (MONTEGEN, a registered service mark). TALENT s.r.l. (www.spin.it/talent) located in Italy (Trieste) is involved in the manufacturing biotech instruments. |
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