Separations expert Bert Postma from Malvern Instruments will talk about the challenges of biopolymer characterization  at the International Symposium on Polymer Analysis and Characterization 2012 (ISPAC) being held in Kerkrade, The Netherlands, June 10-12, 2012. Malvern is also a sponsor and exhibitor at the event.  The company offers a wide range of  instrumentation for characterizing many different types of polymer, enabling the rapid generation of information on molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, branching, conformation, rheological properties, morphology and particle size. On show at ISPAC 2012 will be Viscotek GPC systems, the Kinexus rheometer and Zetasizer dynamic light scattering systems. 

Bert Postma's presentation on ‘Answering the challenges - challenge the answers in biopolymer characterization', focuses on the widespread use of polysaccharides like hyaluronan, chitosan and carrageenan in applications as broad as medical, cosmetics and foods, generating demand for more detailed and accurate material characterization.  Applications require ever higher material specifications, and business need ever leaner production techniques. Shorter consumer product cycles also put pressure on the development teams. This results in requests for shorter development times and more specific information about the materials used.  Size exclusion chromatography (SEC/GPC) offers ways to characterize samples on a molecular scale, and rheology offers insights into properties on a more macroscopic scale.

For information about the conference please click here or for full details of Malvern's range of products for polymer characterization click here