Nanopartikeltracking analyis (NTA)
The movement of (bio)nanoparticulate material in a liquid flow cell, which is tracked with a camera, enables the calculation of hydrodynamic particle size distributions and concentrations in solutions. We use the corresponding device from Particle Metrix Inc. from Inning am Ammersee for the characterization of (bio)nanoparticulate material, e.g. liposomes, extracellular vesicles and virus-like particles.
Gas-phase electrophoresis (nES GEMMA)
Electrophoresis of singly charged nanoparticles in the gas phase in combination with the detection of particle numbers enables the size separation and thus the characterization of analytes on a nanometer scale. As one of the first research groups worldwide to use such an instrument, we have worked over the years on the characterization of viruses, virus-like particles (VLPs), liposomes, extracellular vesicles, lipoproteins, proteins, polysaccharides and other (bio)nanoparticle material. We currently use three instruments from two different generations of equipment from TSI Inc (Shoreview, MN, USA) in our laboratory. Another focus of our work is the on- and offline combination of gas phase electrophoresis with orthogonal analytical methods, e.g. CZE, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, atomic force microscopy or spectroscopy.
Kaufman et al., 1996: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac951128f, opens an external URL in a new window
Bacher et al., 2001: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jms.208, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2015: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b01450, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2018: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elps.201700382, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2019: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-019-01998-6, opens an external URL in a new window
Zoratto et al., 2021: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jms.4786, opens an external URL in a new window
Steinberger et al., 2021: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-021-03692-y, opens an external URL in a new window
Agilent 3D capillary electrophoresis
Analyte separation using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with UV-Vis absorption detection is possible in our working group on two instruments. Previous work included the characterization of human rhinoviruses (common cold virus) in its native state as well as of its subviral particles produced during the cell infection process. In addition, we have successfully used CZE to characterize liposomes and other bionanoparticle material.
Weiss et al., 2012: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elps.201100647, opens an external URL in a new window
Subirats et al., 2013: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elps.201200686, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2013: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elps.201300307, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2015: https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-4939-1571-2_9, opens an external URL in a new window
Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer
Our laboratory is equipped with several Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer instruments. These enable the separation of RNA, DNA and proteins via gel electrophoresis using disposable chips. In cooperation with Agilent Technologies (Waldbronn, Germany), we developed gel electrophoretic protein separations with high sensitivity. Alternatively, CZE separations were implemented, which enabled the characterization of fluorescently labelled viruses and virus-like particles (VLPs), liposomes, nanoparticles and hybridization probes via capillary zone electrophoretic separations at chip level.
Bousse et al., 2001: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac0012492, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2007: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570023207007404?via%3Dihub, opens an external URL in a new window
Bilek et al., 2009: https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/elps.200900382, opens an external URL in a new window
Weiss et al., 2016: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-016-9459-2, opens an external URL in a new window
Engel et al., 2017: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-017-0615-0, opens an external URL in a new window
Liposome preparation
By hydrating a thin lipid film and subsequent extrusion steps, we are able to produce liposomes of a defined size and with a defined lipid and cargo content. After production, we can also characterize the vesicles using various analytical techniques, e.g. nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), gas phase electrophoresis (nES GEMMA) and mass spectrometry.
Weiss et al., 2016: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/an/c6an00687f, opens an external URL in a new window
Urey et al., 2016: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378517316308791?via%3Dihub, opens an external URL in a new window
Wieland et al., 2019: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12274-018-2202-x, opens an external URL in a new window
Balantic et al., 2022: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567539421002516?via%3Dihub, opens an external URL in a new window