University Course »Preparative Chromatography Column Packing«

The university course “Preparative Chromatography Column Packing” teaches the theoretical fundamentals and practical skills required for the proper packing of chromatography columns for biotechnological processes.

Participants will learn about different packing methods and chromatography materials and gain hands-on experience packing compressible and incompressible chromatography media on a pilot scale.

The course is offered by the BOKU Core Facility Biindustrial Pilot Plant (CF BIPP) and the Institute of Bioprocess Engineering (IBSE) in collaboration with Bio-Rad.

Qualifications & Skills

Upon completion of the course, participants will have the necessary technical knowledge and practical skills to properly pack chromatography columns for bioprocesses.

Course Content

Theoretical Foundations:

Principles of packing chromatography columns
Fluid mechanics and theoretical foundations of mass transfer in packed-bed
Overview of downstream process development in biotechnology

Practical Training:

Packing of compressible and incompressible chromatography media on a pilot scale
Conditioning of packed columns
Tests and other analytical methods for verifying packing quality (HETP)
Unpacking of columns

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able

to properly pack chromatography columns for bioprocesses using the specialized knowledge they have acquired
to evaluate the differences between various packing methods and chromatography materials
to apply their knowledge of packing compressible and incompressible chromatography media in practice
to evaluate the most important quality characteristics of a column packing