The Diffusion Interaction Parameter (kD) as an Indicator of Colloidal and Thermal Stability
Stability is a key quality attribute in formulation studies of potential therapeutic biomolecules. In order to minimize time, effort and funds spent on stability studies, researchers rely on high-throughput screening methods that can reliably test hundreds of combinations of candidates, excipients and buffer conditions. Techniques utilized in these screens must determine a variety of stability-indicating parameters (SIPs). Some of the most useful SIPs to date are short term aggregation, thermal stability; and colloidal stability.
The ability to screen protein formulations at the early stages of development enables scientists to concentrate on the most suitable candidates, therefore saving substantial amounts of time, sample and testing equipment. This experiment demonstrates that thermal and colloidal stability of proteins, two indicators of propensity to aggregate, as well as actual aggregation states, are all determined simultaneously during the screening process with dynamic light scattering (DLS) tools in or-der to rank the effectiveness of candidates and formulation conditions. DLS can also indicate chemical sta-bility and the average molar mass and specific volume of molecules in solution. For these reasons, HTS-DLS provides substantial quantities of information for the rapid screening of candidate molecules, buffer conditions and excipients, allowing the DynaPro® Plate Reader II to maximize productivity in formulation studies.