Formulation and incorporation of Aquaporin protein in membrane matrices

Project description

Description 

Aquaporin is a Danish cleantech company dedicated to revolutionising water purification by means of industrial biotech techniques and thinking. Our goal is to develop the Aquaporin Inside™ technology capable of separating and purifying water from all other compounds. 

Aquaporin Inside™ technology were tested and proven by NASA to show superior rejection values to urea when compared to existing Forward Osmosis membranes. As a result our revolutionary water filtration technology won the prestigious European Inventor Award in 2014 and attracted over 100million Krona for further development.

Primary market focus includes industrial water treatment treatment of difficult wastewater streams and other niche segments where the Aquaporin Inside™ technology closes a technological gap in todays water treatment. Secondary market focus includes desalination of seawater and pressure retarded osmosis applications.

Objective

Aquaporins like other membrane proteins are conventionally formulated into vesicles as proteoliposomes proteopolymersomes or their hybrids. We use high quality reconstitution/formulation of aquaporin into the vesicles as a prerequisite for various biochemical and biophysical studies of aquaporin function and as a building block in the development of the Aquaporin InsideTM technology.

Projects in this case focus on experimental work in the laboratory of Aquaporin A/S in close collaboration with our development department. The projects are open for graduate students about to write their master thesis and opens up for working with the following topics: 

• Employ multiple incorporation and formulation techniques including thin film hydration solvent evaporation and ionic gelation 
• Exploit the role of multiple formulation parameters including polymer proportion pH temperature volume ratios polymer to protein ratio among others
• Evaluation of different detergent screens and removal techniques.

Learning Outcome

Sucesfull applicants will firstly experience working at the interface between fundamental academic research and industrial applied work. In addition they will

• Familiriase with handling transmembrane proteins 
• Gain experience with liposome forming/reconstitution techniques
• Attain knowledge of techniques to characterise membrane and properties and membrane protein structure and function 
• Understanding of the importance and applications of model membrane systems (e.g liposomes ) to reconsitute and study protein behavior 
• Experience with industrial screening techniques

Student’s Profile

We are seeking an ambitious and highly motivated candidate. Successful candidate will initially be trained on different formulation techniques after which he/she will be responsible for formulation and other activities of experimental work in the laboratory. The candidate will also play a significant role in the assessment the performance of promising formulations.