Enzymes are becoming increasingly important and play a pivotal role in the development of sustainable processes in the chemical, (bio-)pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. In this direction, the determination of the quality, activity and stability of enzymes is key for the development of robust processes and products.
As part of a research study performed for a Belgian company, Certech developed reliable methods for the determination of the quality and activity of different enzymes combined in a biologically-active formulation. Spectrophotometric assays were specifically elaborated for each involved enzymes, both in the raw materials and in the finished product.
For this purpose, Certech took advantages of its new absorbance microplate reader to rapidly screen and optimize the different enzymatic assays. The latter were then finalized on a UV-visible spectrophotometer equipped with a Peltier control and cooling unit.
Especially, these different enzymatic assays – comprising either direct, indirect or coupled methods – allowed to determine and link the activity of the raw enzymes with their residual activity in the finished product, which offers unvaluable opportunities for product development and rational optimization.
Moreover, it was possible to demonstrate and quantify the formation – under pseudo-physiological conditions – of a key active metabolite that results from the cooperative action of a subset of enzymes formulated in the finished product, providing another key element for product development.
