Multi-Angle Light Scattering

Wyatt Technology Corporation announces that Pfizer Global R&D, has chosen its Dawn Heleos Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) instrument to monitor protein reagent quality in drug discovery. The instruments analytical capabilities are illustrated in an application note, titled Using MALS to Ensure Protein Reagent Quality in Drug Discovery. It is available on the companys web site, and it demonstrates how light scattering data can be used to elucidate the solution properties of a protein expressed from two different constructs. The first construct was the shorter of the two, designed for crystallization studies. Experimental results, combined with the fact that the enzyme showed activity and was the predominant species in mass spectrometry, would lead to the erroneous confirmation of the suitability of the reagent. The MAL data, however, showed that the enzyme was very heterogeneous. The second construct, which was designed to address this problem, was the full-length enzyme. In that case, the instrument demonstrated that the protein was in its biologically active form (dimer) and was highly homogenous.