Sartobind® Lab Chromatography Solutions for Research and Development
Chromatography is a powerful technique that is critical for biomolecule purification in many life science workflows.
For laboratory-scale purification and polishing of antibodies, other proteins, nucleic acids and viruses, Sartorius offers a range of chromatography consumables and kits. These feature ready-to-use Sartobind® membranes instead of resins, to support faster and more flexible screening, optimization, and preparative purification.
In addition, the same Sartobind® membranes are available in process-scale capsules and cassettes, providing peace of mind for seamless process transfer to commercial production.
Chromatography Solutions for Your Workflow
Ion Exchange Chromatography
A universal technique for purification of most biomolecules:
- Separate biomolecules based on their net charge
- Available with anion or cation exchange chemistries
- For rapid purification or flow-through polishing
Affinity Chromatography
Offering higher specificity for biologics and tagged proteins:
- Purify antibodies and his-tagged proteins
- Available with high-capacity Protein A or IDA ligands
- For single-step reduction of major contaminants
Virus Purification Kits
All-in-one solutions for viral vector purification and concentration:
- From clarification to pure, concentrated targets
- Supplied with all required reagents and consumables
- For high titres without specialist equipment
Explore Virus Purification Kits
Process Chromatography
Membrane chromatography solutions for the bioprocessing industry:
- Fully scalable capsule and cassette formats
- Available in a variety of chemistries
- For GMP-compliant commercial production
Explore Process Chromatography
Sartobind® Membranes Feature:
Plug and Play
Eliminate the need for column packing and buffer degassing, and obtain reproducible results, with consumables that are ready-for-use.
Flexibility Built in
Experience reliable purification with a centrifuge, pump, LC system, or no equipment at all, with a range of spin and pressure filter formats.
Rapid Cycling
Purify samples in seconds, not minutes, thanks to convective membranes that enable shorter residence times and faster flow rates.
Productivity Boost
Push the limits of ion exchange and affinity chromatography to prepare the highest possible yield and purity of even the largest molecules.
Process-Ready Technology
Seamlessly transition from research to clinical and commercial production for your most promising targets, with process scale capsules and cassettes.
Benefits of Membrane Chromatography
More Efficient Than Resins
Classical resin chromatography typically requires sophisticated equipment with long set-up times. It is also slow due to diffusive flow, can, suffer from limited yields - especially for larger targets such as viruses - and the columns have a limited lifespan, leading to reduced productivity. In addition, resin-based purification can be difficult to scale up from research to production.
To overcome these challenges, Sartorius has developed Sartobind® chromatography membranes. These are available in a choice of formats to provide flexible and reliable purification with or without equipment, and to reduce or even eliminate preparative steps. Mass transport primarily by convective flow enables shorter residence times, resulting in rapid cycling and higher yields, while enhanced resistance to blocking ensures maximum reusability to substantially reduce cost per milligram of purified sample.
What’s more, the same membranes are available in process-scale capsules and cassettes, eliminating uncertainty when novel therapies and vaccines must be transferred to clinical and commercial manufacturing.
Comparing Resin vs Membrane Chromatography
Resins | Sartobind® | |
|---|---|---|
Set-up Time | ||
Column Packing | Yes | No |
Buffer Degassing | Yes | No |
Sample Pre-filtration | Yes | Yes (in-line) |
| ||
Performance | ||
Speed | Slow | Up to 10X faster |
Yield | Moderate | 5 - 10X higher |
Process-ready | Limited | Yes |
Figure 1: Slow, diffusive mass transport of molecules through resin columns.
Figure 2: Faster, primarily convective flow in Sartobind® membranes.
Reliable Syringe Purification
Convective Sartobind® lab chromatography membranes support higher flow rates and operating pressures. This ensures reliable, equipment-free purification without the risk of damage to the stationary phase or housing, while still achieving maximum yields. Using a syringe is ideal for quick and easy benchtop purification under established conditions or when access to a dedicated liquid chromatography system is limited.
Watch our video tutorial and download the full protocol for step-by-step instructions to purify your biomolecules by syringe.
Spin and System Ready
For high throughput and rapid cycling applications, it is preferable to use parallel processing or automated methods. Sartorius lab chromatography products can be easily integrated into these workflows using your existing equipment.
Vivapure® IEX units are ideal for parallel screening or purification in a benchtop centrifuge. Meanwhile, Sartobind® Lab units can be run on peristaltic pumps or connected directly to your ÄKTA or NGC chromatography system right out of the box.
In-Line Sample Prefiltration
It is always advised to pre-filter samples to prolong the lifespan of any chromatography consumable. However, with resin columns, prefiltration must be performed as an additional step before loading.
The Sartobind® Lab system’s Luer lock connectors, which support convenient purification by syringe, can also provide another benefit. By connecting a Minisart® syringe filter directly to the inlet, prefiltration can be performed in-line during sample loading – two steps in one.
Explore the Features of Sartobind® Lab
Supporting Products
Selected Lab Chromatography Resources
Sartobind® Lab and Vivapure® Manuals
- Sartobind® IDA Lab PDF | 342.2 KB
- Sartobind® IEX Lab PDF | 3.6 MB
- Sartobind® Rapid A Lab PDF | 2.5 MB
- Vivapure® IEX PDF | 403.4 KB
Vivapure® Kit Manuals
- Vivapure® Adenopack 20 PDF | 774.4 KB
- Vivapure® Adenopack 100 PDF | 799.4 KB
- Vivapure® Adenopack 500 PDF | 1012.7 KB
- Vivapure® Lentiselect 40 PDF | 267.4 KB
- Vivapure® Lentiselect 500 PDF | 920.1 KB
- Vivapure® Lentiselect 1000 PDF | 1006.6 KB
Frequently Asked Questions
Membrane chromatography is a separation technique used to purify antibodies, other proteins, nucleic acids, and viruses. It works in a similar way to column chromatography but uses macroporous membranes as the stationary phase instead of resins. Choosing to use membrane chromatography can provide several advantages, including easier set-up, faster purification, higher binding capacities, and more options for scale-up.
Sartobind® Lab and Vivapure® are both available with quaternary ammonium (Q) and diethylamine (D) anion exchangers or sulfonic acid (S) cation exchanger. In addition, Sartobind® Lab is available with protein A and iminodiacetic acid (IDA) for affinity purification.
Membrane chromatography can typically replace resin chromatography in most applications. It is suitable for capture purification of antibodies, other proteins, nucleic acids and viruses. Membrane chromatography is also ideal for flowthrough polishing, to remove contaminants such as host cell proteins, DNA, endotoxins and viruses.
Sartobind® Lab units can be used with or without equipment. A syringe or peristaltic pump can be connected directly to the Luer lock inlet for fast purification with minimal setup time. Alternatively, a pair of adapters are included for compatibility with most liquid chromatography systems, including ÄKTA, NGC, and others.
Vivapure® units require a benchtop centrifuge, while the virus purification kits are designed for use with syringes or pumps, depending on the process volumes.
Yes, Sartorius recommends and sells Watson-Marlow pumps for precise flow control for benchtop chromatography.
You should order a purification tubing kit, which is compatible with the recommended Watson-Marlow pumps.
Yes. Although a pair of adapters is included in every pack of Sartobind® Lab units, we recognize that you may need to order spares or replacements from time to time. A LC system adapter kit is available for this purpose.
Unlike with resin chromatography, there is no possibility of air bubbles disrupting Sartobind® membranes. This eliminates the need to degas buffers, saving considerable preparation time.
For optimal biomolecule capture, we recommend equilibration with a buffer similar in composition to the sample to be purified. This is a rapid process that adds only a few seconds to the purification cycle.
Sartobind® Lab units can be reused many times. Unlike resin columns and other membrane chromatography consumables, Sartobind® membranes are highly resistant to blocking. With proper regeneration and storage, column pressure remains stable from run-to-run and the binding capacity can be maintained for at least 100 cycles.
Vivapure® and the Vivapure® kits are intended for single use.
Yes, it can. A range of process chromatography capsules and cassettes are available. These are already implemented in the manufacturing process for many clinically approved products, are fully scalable, and use the same membranes as the lab chromatography units.
Yes, there are. All Sartobind® Lab units are manufactured using 100% renewable energy sources. In addition, Sartobind® IEX Lab and Sartobind® Rapid A Lab have been tested for purification up to 100 cycles, which has the potential to reduce the number of consumables you need, thereby reducing research waste. Finally, the paper-rich packaging used for most Sartobind® Lab units is easy to recycle.
