The outside structure of a virus-like particle (VLP) mimics a virus, but it does not contain viral genetic material. Thus, it is considered as a safe empty particle, and is widely used for the production of vaccines or development of drug delivery system in pathology and immunology. VLPs are often produced by microbial expression system.  
In this application, a crude extract of norovirus VLP (NVLP) was analyzed by a SEC-MALS method. The crude extract was purified by an anion exchange column, CIM multus^TM QA-1 . For the separation of impurities and the NVLP was achieved by using a polymer-base aqueous SEC (GFC) column, OHpak SB-805 HQ. Since UV detector cannot distinguish the impurities and the NVLP, the use of an appropriate SEC column is important. The obtained rms radius of the extract reflected the size distribution of the properly configured NVLP particle size.
Because of its sophisticated high hydrophilicity design, SB-805 HQ experiences less adsorption and have the pore size appropriate for the analysis of nanoparticles. Therefore, it is a suitable and a recommended separation tool for VLP profiling.
Please refer to Shodex^TM Technical Article No.15 "Purification and SEC/MS Analysis of Norovirus Virus-Like Particles"


Sample : 50 μL
NVLP purification Fraction
of an anion exchange chromatography

Column       : Shodex OHpak SB-805 HQ (8.0 mm I.D. x 300 mm)　
Eluent       : PBS (-) (pH7.4)
Flow rate    : 1.0 mL/min
Detector     : UV (280 nm) (small cell volume) 
               MALS (DAWN8+ produced by Wyatt Technology Corp.)
Column temp. : 25 °C