9631962 Etzel The overall goal of this proposal is to develop an experimentally based model that describes the sorption of proteins from complex biological fluids, e.g., human blood, onto affinity membranes, and from this model, the elution process that follows. The sorption characteristics of the four human IgG proteins on an immobilized protein G membrane will be determined, a model developed, and experimental breakthrough times compared with model predictions for each protein. The second aim of the proposal is to determine the effect of naturally-occurring components of human plasma on the sorption model. Components such as other proteins, sugars, salts, and lipids may have much lower affinities but are generally present in larger quantities. Finally, the proposal aims to develop a mathematical model of the elution of the protein from the affinity ligand. This model will be valuable in optimizing the process variables, e.g., pore size, flow rate, etc. ***
