Environmental Engineering PhD Candidate Christa Meingast published a paper in Biotechnology Progress titled “Arginine Enveloped Virus Inactivation and Potential Mechanisms.” The work was co-authored by James and Lorna Mack Chair in Bioengineering Caryn Heldt.
https://doi.org/10.1002/btpr.2931
Meingast is a King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship Program Fall 2018 recipient and a Portage Health Foundation Graduate Assistantship Fall 2019 recipient.
Article Extract
Arginine synergistically inactivates enveloped viruses at a pH or temperature that do little harm to proteins, making it a desired process for therapeutic protein manufacturing. However, the mechanisms and optimal conditions for inactivation are not fully understood, and therefore, arginine viral inactivation is not used industrially.
Once the mechanisms of arginine viral inactivation are understood, further enhancement by the addition of functional groups, charges, or additives may allow the inactivation of all enveloped viruses in mild conditions.