The market demand for protein therapeutics is increasing rapidly. Considering that >60% of the total bioprocess cost is due to product recovery and purification, high productivity / high resolution separation techniques are needed to meet societal demands. Membrane chromatography is one such technique. Despite its success in bioprocess polishing steps, broad implementation of membrane chromatography in bioprocess capture steps has been slow because, until now, membrane adsorbers have had lower per volume protein binding capacities than resin columns.

Our NSF-sponsored work has demonstrated how to build unprecedented adsorptive capacity into commercial base membranes using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. With this solid foundation, REU students will learn our methodologies to produce high performance membranes and test their performance as protein chromatography stationary phases.