Maximize small-scale antibody yield with dual-flow chromatography and MabSelect PrismA™ PhyTip® technology
By Sonali Munshaw
As global demand for innovative antibody therapies grows, drug discovery laboratories need robust, efficient screening technologies that can keep pace with increasing sample numbers and tighter development timelines. Traditional manual purification methods are difficult to scale for early-stage screening, where many antibody candidates must be evaluated in parallel. Automated, small-scale, high-throughput purification helps accelerate this workflow by reducing hands-on time, conserving sample, and enabling more consistent screening across candidates.
Automated antibody purification with PhyTip® columns
Biotage PhyTip® columns enable automated small-scale purification. By pairing our proprietary dual-flow chromatography (DFC) with cutting-edge affinity resins, Biotage has created a system that delivers reliable, high-throughput results right out of the box (Figure 1). DFC takes a gentle approach to keep your precious biomolecules in their native, fully active state. The smart engineering ensures: zero dead volume, maximum processing efficiency, complete deck automation with absolutely zero compromises.
Figure 1. DFC technology enables purification of small volume and low-titer samples in gentle yet effective manner ensuring higher yields.
MabSelect PrismA™: The new benchmark in antibody purification
Cytiva’s side-by-side comparison of MabSelect PrismA™ with its predecessor resin demonstrates that this next-generation chromatography matrix sets a new standard in purification efficiency, surpassing legacy resins in key areas. PrismA redefines both small- and large-scale protein A purification offering:
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Superior binding dynamics
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Exceptional alkaline stability
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Optimized high-flow agarose matrix
Comparing protein A resins for automated antibody purification
Biotage conducted a head-to-head study comparing PhyTip® columns filled with various antibody purification affinity resins. Under the tested conditions featuring 1:2 diluted porcine serum, eight capture cycles, and a 4 µL/s flow rate. The results included:
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ProPlus (MabSelect SuRe™) PhyTips yielded 29% more human IgG than Protein A PhyTips.
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MabSelect PrismA™ PhyTip® achieved the highest overall capacity, delivering a 68% increase in yield over Protein A and a 30% increase over ProPlus PhyTip.
How flow rate and residence time affect antibody purification yield
Under the tested conditions, reducing the capture flow rate increased PrismA yield by 20%, indicating that its performance benefits from extended sample-resin contact time—an effect not observed with ProPlus. This highlights PrismA’s strong sensitivity to residence time and its ability to maximize binding efficiency at lower flow rates.
ProPlus vs. PrismA: Choosing the right protein A resin for your workflow
When selecting the ideal PhyTip® column for your workflow, the decision between ProPlus and PrismA boils down to your primary goal: minimizing purification time or maximizing sample yield. Consider the following:
- Choose ProPlus PhyTips if speed is your top priority. It delivers strong, robust, and reliable performance at faster flow rates, making it ideal for high-throughput workflows where time is of the essence.
- Choose PrismA PhyTips if you need maximum recovery. For workflows requiring high final yield, PrismA demonstrated the highest binding efficiency under lower capture flow rates. To fully leverage this performance advantage, adjust your automated method to use a slower flow rate during the sample loading phase.
To explore how MabSelect PrismA™ PhyTip® columns could fit into your automated antibody screening workflow, review our technical note, or contact one of our specialists to discuss method setup, resin selection, and automation parameters for your application of interest.
