Nanoxis - Membrane Protein Solutions

The inherent nature of membrane proteins - being dependent on a hydrophobic surrounding - is associated with several challenges. Despite the many bottlenecks, membrane proteins cannot be neglected; they are far too important and play a vital role in biology.

New membrane protein analysis and research products

New products that will bypass the bottlenecks in membrane protein analysis and research are in high demand; Nanoxis intends to meet this demand. Nanoxis have the technology, knowledge and aspiration to advance the membrane proteomics field.

This will be achieved by offering innovative products, which can be of use for membrane protein analysis, membrane protein topology studies, identification of epitopes on membrane proteins and ligand screening with impact in several important areas such as cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and stem cell research.

Immobilization of native membrane proteins

Nanoxis’ products are based on a technology which immobilizes functional membrane proteins with retained natural lipid composition. Lipid-based Protein Immobilization (LPI™) technology was developed in cooperation with academic groups and pharmaceutical companies.

Nanoxis launched the first product in 2006, aimed at applications which require immobilization of the membrane proteins of interest. The procedure is very easy and straightforward and performed in three simple steps.

Current product offering – LPI™ FlowCell Kits

In essence the product consists of two plates bound together by a thin spacer, forming a flow cell. The surfaces of the LPI™ FlowCell have been chemically modified to bind membrane preparations in the form of small proteoliposomes.

Currently, Nanoxis has two different product versions based on the LPI™ technology – LPI™ Maxi and LPI™ HexaLane FlowCell. As their name implies the Maxi version has a larger sample capacity whilst the HexaLane version has six parallel flow channels, individually addressable for the researcher.

All you need to operate the FlowCell is a standard pipette, to load samples and exchange fluid through the FlowCell. This changes the solution environment around the immobilized membrane proteins.

Applications of LPI™ technology

The fact that the LPI™ technology is capable of immobilizing membrane proteins directly from their natural source opens up several highly interesting applications. Since fluid can easily be exchanged over the LPI™ FlowCell surface it is ideal for multi step protease treatment for increased sequence coverage, identification of posttranslational modifications (PTMs), membrane protein topology and ligand screening to name but a few.

Antigen epitope identification

The LPI™ technology also has a promising future in the search for new antibodies using either phage display against immobilized targets or by the search for epitopes exposed on the extra cellular parts of membrane proteins.

Since the proteins have retained structure, proteases will be able to cut the parts that are surface exposed and easily accessible, often resulting in peptides that are hydrophilic and water soluble as well as easily detected by MS.

Peptide generation and identification

The products of today are sold as ready-to-use kits and the main application is the study of protein/peptide composition of various biological membranes. The sample is immobilized as small lipid vesicles called proteoliposomes.

Proteoliposomes are then treated with proteases to generate peptides which can be analysed by LC-MS/MS. Apart from the products Nanoxis also offer access to the LPI™ technology and the expertise of Nanoxis’ researchers through contract research on projects regarding membrane protein analysis.