Welcome to a LINXS-ECIS webinar with Peter Schurtenberger (Lund University) and Emanuela Zaccarelli (CNR Institute for Complex Systems and Sapienza University of Rome)
When: 16 October, 15:00 - 17:00
Where: Zoom - participants will receive a link upon registration
AbstractS
Using colloid models for the description of protei n solutions – an experimentalists approach
Peter Schurtenberger
Division of Physical Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Looking at globular proteins with the eyes of a colloid scientist has a long tradition, in fact a significant part of the early colloid literature was focused on protein solutions. However, it has also been recognized that proteins are much more complex than the typical hard sphere-like synthetic model colloids. Proteins are not perfect spheres, and their interaction potentials are in general not isotropic, and using theories developed for such particles are thus clearly inadequate in many cases. Here I will make an attempt to critically discuss the exploitation of colloid science concepts to better understand protein solutions. I will not only consider classical applications aimed at understanding and predicting solution stability and phase behaviour, but also discuss new challenges related to the dynamics, flow behaviour and liquid-solid transitions found in concentrated or crowded protein solutions. I will demonstrate the importance of using a toolbox of techniques allowing for the characterisation of protein solutions over a broad range of length and time scales (static and dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, neutron spin echo and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, tracer particle-based microrheology), and highlight the limits of simple colloid models to explain and reproduce the experimental data. I will in particular address the interplay between liquid-liquid phase separation and dynamical arrest in concentrated protein solutions and mixtures, and the influence of shape and surface heterogeneity on the solution properties of monoclonal antibodies.
Multi-scale models for the description of protein solutions: the case of monoclonal antibodies
Emanuela Zaccarelli
CNR Institute for Complex Systems and Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
In this talk, I will focus on the crucial modelling aspects to take into account to faithfully describe the behavior of protein solutions. Starting with an overview of the interaction potentials to be used, I will explain the need to use patchy models and to correctly capture electrostatic interactions. I will talk about selected examples of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), to be tackled with a combination of simulation efforts --- from atomistic to coarse-grained --- as well as with theory, whenever possible. Numerical results will be compared to experimental systems upon varying mAb concentration, focusing in particular on relevant observables such as static structure factors and viscosity. Finally, as a perspective of this type of work, I will discuss the difficulties in finding a general model, since each mAb has its specificity, but our overarching goal is to develop a unifying picture.
Contact: Please contact mia.lindstrom@linxs.lu.se for practical questions
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