Vivaspin vs Amicon Ultra

From: Jan Gebauer
Date: 2011/10/5


Dear all,

sorry, for the slightly off-topic theme, but I wonder if anyone has
compared the above mentioned ultracentrifugation devices, thoroughly.

Currently, we are using the Amicon Ultra, but as the Vivaspins are
considerably cheaper we are considering to change.

I used both with extracellular matrix proteins and both worked fine for
me; however, some of us are working with membrane proteins, which might
behave differently.

Has anyone experiences with Vivaspins and membrane proteins?

Has anyone compared the two (also with non-membrane proteins) and can
share her or his experience?

Thanks,
Jan
--
Dr. Jan Gebauer
AG Prof. Baumann
Institut für Biochemie / Uni-Köln
Otto-Fischer-Str. 12-14 / 50674 Köln


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From: David Briggs

Hi Jan,

I've used both, and I've used them on membrane binding proteins, extracellular matrix proteins and intracellular proteins. 

I know of some cases where protein loss is very severe, but that varies on a case-by-case basis. A general observation is that proteins with which losses are bad, are bad irrespective of whether I use vivaspins or centricons, HY or Cellulose membranes - I know of just one case where the loss was significantly reduced (although not abolished) using the vivaspin HY membranes. 

FWIW, I use vivaspins on a day-to-day basis and am generally very happy with them.

HTH,

D

============================
David C. Briggs PhD
Father, Structural Biologist and Sceptic
============================
University of Manchester E-mail:
david.c.briggs@manchester.ac.uk
============================
http://manchester.academia.edu/DavidBriggs (v.sensible)
http://xtaldave.wordpress.com/ (sensible)
http://xtaldave.posterous.com/ (less sensible)

=============

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From: Florian Brückner

Hi Jan

I have used Vivaspins for membrane proteins and they generally work fine. The exact pore size might be different though between Vivaspin and Amicon with the same specifications, say e.g. 100,000 MWCO. So you might find that your protein is retained in one of them, while it is in the flowthrough with the other.

Best regards

Florian

Am 05.10.2011 um 11:22 schrieb Jan Gebauer:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Florian Brückner
Biomolecular Research Laboratory, OFLG/102
Paul Scherrer Institut
CH-5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

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From: Peter Gutte


Hi Jan,

In our lab we use both the Amicon Ultras and the Vivaspins  (soluble and membrane proteins).
What I can tell you is that me and a few other colleagues had the experience (and still do) of specific soluble proteins precipitating on the Cellulose membrane
of the Amicon. By  switching to the Vivaspins, which have a polyethersulfone  membrane, the precipitation completely vanished.
This  seems to be very protein dependend as many seem to be able to use both systems with no or little problems.
I don't know if the type of membrane really makes the difference but it could be a possible explanation.
I unfortunately have less expierence with these systems on membrane proteins and I only know that both systems seem to work fine for colleagues who work on membrane proteins.

Best Regards,
Peter

--
P.G.M. Gutte
PhD student

Institute of Biochemistry
University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 190
CH-8057 Zurich


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From: Roger Rowlett

The vivaspins are the best thing in ultrafiltration since sliced bread. I learned about them while I was at the NIH several years ago and haven't looked back. Fast and low-binding. PES membranes are superior for minimizing protein binding, and are also less subject to pore shrinkage in high salt solutions, unlike cellulose or nylon membranes. I will hardly use anything else for protein concentration.

Cheers,

_______________________________________
Roger S. Rowlett
Gordon & Dorothy Kline Professor
Department of Chemistry
Colgate University
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, NY 1334
6

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From: Ho Leung Ng

Hello Jan,

     I've used both with soluble and membrane proteins happily. I haven't seen significant differences with protein behavior or performance in one or the other, but of course, your favorite protein may differ. I've found that buffer condition is a more important variable than membrane type.

Ho

Ho Leung Ng
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

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From: Claudia Binda

Hi,
we currently use Amicon Ultra with some proteins, but with some others we also have seen precipitation problems.
In those cases we were happy with Vivacon (from Sartorius as well). They are thought for DNA but they
work also with proteins. They resemble the Centricon devices which were previously produced by Millipore.

Claudia

--
Claudia Binda
University of Pavia
Dept. Genetics and Microbiology
via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia - Italy