New Products for Membrane Protein Research

Nanoxis provides researchers with new membrane protein sample preparation and discovery tools with several beneficial features, such as a detergent-free environment, easy handling, high yield and high sensitivity. The LPI (lipid-based protein immobilization) technology is based on the use of proprietary surfaces in a flow cell format for immobilization of membrane preparations. Detergent-free sample preparation protocols are also utilized to retain the natural environment around the membrane proteins. The membrane proteins are immobilized in the form of intact proteoliposomes directly produced from membrane preparations of a wide variety of cells and tissues and are thus kept in their native cell membrane with retained structure and function. The LPI Kits can be used for a number of applications, including membrane profiling, target identification, glycosylation studies, epitope identification for increased specificity at antibody production and quantification studies.

The first product, LPI Maxi Kit, has now been joined by a higher throughput format, LPI HexaLane Kit. While the Maxi FlowCell has a large surface area and can only be used for one sample at a time, the HexaLane FlowCell has six parallel lanes with less surface area and can be used for six different samples. The LPI Maxi Kit, with its larger surface area, allows for higher sensitivity since a higher amount of peptides can be acquired for downstream analysis. The LPI HexaLane Kit offers a cost- and sample-saving way for higher throughput screening of membrane proteins with LC-MS/MS.

The flow cell format enables quick and easy exchange of solution environment around the membrane proteins without the need for centrifugation, and consequently less sample loss and higher yield. This leads to a high reproducibility and more sensitive detection of low abundant membrane proteins compared to conventional methods such as in-solution digestion and 1-D gels.