Protein stability is a major concern for biotechnology, food industries, pharmaceuticals, and academic scientists. A common goal that many in vitro protein studies strive for is the creation of an environment in which protein samples can stably retain native conformations. If proteins of interest adopt non-native congregating structures, normal function may be lost. Protein stability is essential for expressing, purifying, and storing proteins and is needed for functional studies using native and recombinant proteins.
Processes ranging from large-scale industrial protein production and high throughput screening to the more specific pharmaceutical protein-drug interactions and protein crystallization can be impacted. Conditional factors such as buffer pH, salts, mechanical agitation, and temperature are just some of the more common causes of undesired protein aggregation. Protein stability screening is essential as working with proteins can often be challenging and a time-consuming process.