The application of functionalised magnetic adsorbent particles in combination with magnetic separation techniques has received considerable attention in recent years. The magnetically responsive nature of such adsorbent particles permits their selective manipulation and separation in the presence of other suspended solids. Thus, it becomes possible to magnetically separate selected target species directly out of crude biological process liquors (e.g. fermentation broths, cell disruptates, plasma, milk, whey and plant extracts) simply by binding them on magnetic adsorbents before application of a magnetic field. By using magnetic separation in this way, the several stages of sample pretreatment (especially centrifugation, filtration and membrane separation) that are normally necessary to condition an extract before its application on packed bed chromatography columns, may be eliminated. Magnetic separations are fast, gentle, scaleable, easily automated, can achieve separations that would be impossible or impractical to achieve by other techniques, and have demonstrated credibility in a wide range of disciplines, including minerals processing, wastewater treatment, molecular biology, cell sorting and clinical diagnostics. However, despite the highly attractive qualities of magnetic methods on a process scale, with the exception of wastewater treatment, few attempts to scale up magnetic operations in biotechnology have been reported thus far. The purpose of this review is to summarise the current state of development of protein separation using magnetic adsorbent particles and identify the obstacles that must be overcome if protein purification with magnetic adsorbent particles is to find its way into industrial practice.

We describe a novel method to produce monolithic, oriented, crystalline and highly porous coatings on solid substrates. By adopting the recently described liquid‐phase epitaxy (LPE) process developed to grow metal‐organic framework coatings (MOFs) on modified Au‐substrates to the spray method, we have prepared thick (μm) layers of several MOF types on modified Au‐substrates, including HKUST‐I and layer‐pillar MOFs. The spray method not only allows such SURMOFs to be grown much faster than with the LPE‐process but the dependence of layer thickness on the number of immersion cycles also provides valuable insights into the mechanism governing the layer‐by‐layer MOF formation process.

Molecular patterning processes taking place in biological systems are challenging to study in vivo because of their dynamic behavior, subcellular size, and high degree of complexity. In vitro patterning of biomolecules using nanolithography allows simplification of the processes and detailed study of the dynamic interactions. Parallel dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is uniquely capable of integrating functional biomolecules on subcellular length scales due to its constructive nature, high resolution, and high throughput. Phospholipids are particularly well suited as inks for DPN since a variety of different functional lipids can be readily patterned in parallel. Here DPN is used to spatially pattern multicomponent micro- and nanostructured supported lipid membranes and multilayers that are fluid and contain various amounts of biotin and/or nitrilotriacetic acid functional groups. The patterns are characterized by fluorescence microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy. Selective adsorption of functionalized or recombinant proteins based on streptavidin or histidine-tag coupling enables the semisynthetic fabrication of model peripheral membrane bound proteins. The biomimetic membrane patterns formed in this way are then used as substrates for cell culture, as demonstrated by the selective adhesion and activation of T-cells.

During the last few decades, increasing interest in biological surfactants led to an intensification of research for the cost-efficient production of biosurfactants compared with traditional petrochemical surface-active components. The quest for alternative production strains also is associated with new demands on biosurfactant analysis. The present paper gives an overview of existing analytical methods, based on the example of rhamnolipids. The methods reviewed range from simple colorimetric testing to sophisticated chromatographic separation coupled with detection systems like mass spectrometry, by means of which detailed structural information is obtained. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry currently presents the most precise method for rhamnolipid identification and quantification. Suitable approaches to accelerate rhamnolipid quantification for better control of biosurfactant production are HPLC analysis directly from culture broth by adding an internal standard or Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy measurements of culture broth as a possible quasi-online quantification method in the future. The search for alternative rhamnolipid-producing strains makes a structure analysis and constant adaptation of the existing quantification methods necessary. Therefore, simple colorimetric tests based on whole rhamnolipid content can be useful for strain and medium screening. Furthermore, rhamnolipid purification from a fermentation broth will be considered depending on the following application.

A novel method for the homogeneous coating of magnetic nanoparticles with metal organic frameworks (MOFs) is reported. Using a liquid phase epitaxy process, a well‐defined number of [Cu3(btc)2]nH2O, HKUST‐1, layers are grown on COOH terminated silica magnetic beads. The structure and porosity of the deposited MOF coatings are studied using X‐ray diffraction and BET analysis. In addition, size and shape of the fabricated composites are analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Potential applications of particle based MOF films include catalytic coatings and chromatographic media.