Luís Raiado-Pereira
Research Assistant
Background
MSc. in Advanced Biotechnology,
Universitat Àutonoma de Barcelona, 2007
Graduation in Chemical Engineering,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2005
Research Activities
My research is focused on the surface modification of membranes for the chromatographic purification of plasmid DNA (pDNA). Membrane development per se deals mostly with the covalent binding of biospecific ligands to commercial membranes and testing their performance towards several process upstreams with varying degrees of contamination. On going research activities, clinical trials and market approvals on gene vaccines and gene therapy has increased the demand for large amounts of highly purified nucleic acids, a scenario which is expected to rise as the first products reach the market. Chemically modified membranes represent the most innovative field of membrane technology and it´s application to pDNA purification is a means of keeping up with the markets increasing demands as an inherently fast, high capacity and high yield process.