Recombinant Protein Production and Analysis

This research infrastructure enables the production and analysis of recombinant proteins using bacterial and microalgal expression systems. It supports cultivation, protein extraction, purification, and biochemical characterization. The infrastructure is used for method development, functional protein studies, and education, providing access to controlled growth environments, purification systems, and analytical tools for assessing protein purity, size, and expression levels.

Microbial cultvation and expression systems

This cluster supports the production of recombinant proteins in bacterial and microalgal expression systems. It enables controlled cultivation under reproducible environmental conditions and is used for method development, protein expression optimisation, and production of recombinant biomolecules.

Equipment included

IKA KS 4000 i control shake incubator

Temperature- and agitation-controlled shake incubator used for aerobic cultivation of recombinant protein-expressing bacteria. Suitable for small- to medium-scale expression experiments, allowing optimisation of growth conditions such as temperature, shaking speed, and induction timing.

Percival algae research incubator (SE-41AL2CLT)

Environmental growth chamber for microalgae cultivation with programmable temperature, LED light intensity (up to 360 μmol/m-2 s-1 dimmable light) and photoperiod, supporting recombinant protein expression in photosynthetic organisms.

Protein extraction and purification

This cluster enables harvesting, extraction, and purification of recombinant proteins. It supports scalable purification workflows and provides reproducible separation based on physicochemical protein properties.

Equipment included

Centrifuges

Bench-top and high-speed centrifuges for cell harvesting, clarification of lysates, and sample preparation during protein extraction and purification.

ÄKTA Pure 25 Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (Cytiva)

FPLC system for protein analysis and purification based on differential affinity to mobile and stationary phases. Equipped with a single-wavelength UV detector and flexible fraction collection supporting 96-well plates as well as 15 mL and 50 mL tubes, enabling both analytical and preparative purification workflows.

Protein separation and detection

This cluster supports qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of recombinant proteins. It enables assessment of protein size, purity, integrity, and expression levels using electrophoretic separation and blot-based detection methods.

Equipment included

SDS-PAGE and native PAGE electrophoresis systems

Gel electrophoresis chambers for protein separation under denaturing (Bio-Rad system) and non-denaturing (Invitrogen system) conditions.

Semi-dry blotting system (Trans-Blot, Bio-Rad)

System for efficient transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to membranes for downstream immunodetection.

ChemiDoc™ imaging system (Bio-Rad)

Digital imaging system for visualisation and documentation of protein gels and blots using chemiluminescent, fluorescence, and colourimetric detection.

Additional information

In addition to expression, purification, and electrophoretic analysis, the infrastructure also provides analytical and biophysical characterisation capabilities for recombinant proteins and protein-based assemblies. Available instrumentation supports absorbance- and fluorescence-based assays using microplate readers, rapid protein concentration and purity measurements using UV-Vis spectrophotometry (NanoDrop), and analysis of particle size distribution, aggregation state, and surface charge using dynamic light scattering (DLS), multi-angle DLS (MADLS), and zeta potential measurements.