# High Resolution Superficially Porous Materials for Native Protein Separations

> **NIH NIH R43** · ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY, INC. · 2021 · $279,682

## Abstract

Abstract
 Life sciences research and other critical bioanalytical applications would strongly benefit from
faster and higher resolution high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) separations of larger
molecules including proteins, peptides, glycopeptides, and glycans. Proteins therapeutics are complex
molecules, susceptible to intended or unintended alterations of composition and conformation. Many
therapeutic proteins are inherently a mixture of closely related variants. Current practice is to employ
HPLC to resolve and quantify the components such protein mixtures, to assure identity and safety of
the protein drug. Many HPLC separations of proteins are limited in resolution of protein mixtures,
require an hour or more, and may not completely resolve all of the components. Due to the complexity
of samples, there are many examples in the current research literature that combine multiple HPLC
analyses to gain full details on protein composition, and to measure the levels of protein variants, both
during development of the drug, as well as manufacture and quality assurance/quality control.
Regardless of the intended use of the quantitative information, high efficiency LC separations are a
fundamental part of the analytical systems, and the time to achieve high resolution separations of
protein samples is a great bottleneck. This proposal describes an approach to improve the separation
efficiency of HPLC for protein analysis by extending the use of novel superficially porous particle
(SPP) technologies with optimized characteristics, providing significantly faster and higher resolution
separations of proteins in the native state. Our objectives are to create SPP silica particles,
specifically design for use in conditions that maintain intact native structures, optimize the materials
properties, and to load these materials efficiently into HPLC column formats. The proposed work will
extend recent breakthroughs in material science that yield authentic improvements in current
materials, seeking to employ the technology in additional native modes of HPLC operation, including
hydrophobic interaction and ion exchange. The goals of the proposed work would yield very high
performance chromatographic products, greater than those currently available, to be applied broadly
in analysis of proteins, particularly for protein therapeutics. The application of the technology is not
limited to biopharmaceutical preparations, and, in fact, would benefit any current application that uses
HPLC methods for larger biological molecule analyses. The separations technology described will
directly lead to useful products for which there is a significant technical and market demand.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10255623
- **Project number:** 1R43GM140789-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Barry E Boyes
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $279,682
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10255623

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10255623, High Resolution Superficially Porous Materials for Native Protein Separations (1R43GM140789-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-11-03 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/10255623. Licensed CC0.

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