Columbia Technology Ventures

Tool for enhanced recombinant protein production in bacteria

This technology is a recombinant protein tag that enhances the yield, solubility, stability, purification, and downstream applications of recombinant proteins that are generally difficult to produce.

Unmet Need: Simple method to express recombinant proteins with high yield

Expression of recombinant proteins in bacteria with subsequent purification is a common method to produce biomolecules for biomedical applications. Currently, expression and purification of some recombinant proteins is significantly hampered by the formation of inclusion bodies, which consist of insoluble protein aggregates that require complex and often ineffective downstream processing to recover activity. This processing is time consuming, drastically limits effective yield, and poses a significant barrier to large-scale production of some recombinant targets.

The Technology: Enhanced production of difficult recombinant proteins

This technology consists of a recombinant protein tag that prevents aggregation of the recombinant target protein in inclusion bodies and enhances downstream processing. The cationic tag partitions its recombinant partner to a phase separated condensate that can be easily recovered through conventional purification techniques with preserved biological activity of the target molecule. This technology enables the high-yield production of conventionally difficult recombinant protein targets in prokaryotes with preservation of biological activity.

This technology has been validated with single tagged recombinant protein.

Applications:

  • Expression and purification of recombinant enzymes
  • Expression and purification of protein therapeutics
  • Expression and purification of proteins for cosmetics production
  • Research tool for analysis of phase separation

Advantages:

  • Enhanced recombinant protein yield
  • Enhanced protein stability during expression and purification
  • No refolding steps required
  • Simplified downstream processing

Lead Inventor: Allie Obermeyer

Allie Obermeyer, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

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