Purpose-built affinity ligands
for lentivirus purification
and analytics
Tozaro Smart Polymer™ ligands have been specifically designed to target the VSV-G envelope protein, enabling selective capture of lentiviral vectors for both downstream purification and rapid analytical applications.
Unlike conventional purification approaches that have been adapted from other modalities, Smart Polymers™ have been engineered specifically for lentivirus workflows, delivering high recovery, excellent impurity clearance and simplified processing.
Smart Polymers™ for Lentivirus Purification
Why Lentivirus Purification Needs a Better Solution
Lentiviral vector manufacturing remains one of the most challenging areas of cell and gene therapy production. Current purification methods often require trade-offs between recovery, purity, scalability and process complexity. Researchers and manufacturers are frequently forced to choose between:
- High purity but poor recovery
- Fast processing but limited scalability
- Established methods but high operating costs
- Generic purification tools not designed for lentiviral vectors
Tozaro’s Smart Polymer™ ligands were developed specifically to address these challenges.
The Smart Polymer™ Solution
– selective capture and gentle elution
Tozaro’s purification ligands target the VSV-G envelope protein with precisely engineered affinity. This allows efficient capture of lentiviral particles while maintaining conditions suitable for functional recovery during elution. This combination of selectivity and optimal binding kinetics enables efficient purification without exposing lentiviral vectors to unnecessarily harsh process conditions. The selective binding also delivers excellent host cell protein removal and reduction in residual DNA in a single step.
gentle elution conditions
functional recovery
host cell protein reduction
residual DNA reduction
Smart Polymer™ Ligands
for Membrane and Monolith based chromatography
Tozaro is collaborating with industry partners to integrate Smart Polymer™ ligands onto commercially available, GMP-compatible purification platforms, including membranes and monoliths. These development programmes are focused on creating scalable purification solutions suitable for clinical and commercial manufacturing.
Membrane Performance:
- Functional lentivirus recovery: 43%
- Host cell protein reduction: 99.8%
- Residual DNA reduction: 99.9%
Monolith Performance:
- Functional lentivirus recovery: 53%
- Host cell protein reduction: 99.8%
- 40-fold residual DNA reduction
Early results demonstrate the potential of Smart Polymer ligands to support scalable lentivirus purification while maintaining strong impurity clearance and vector recovery.
Smart Polymers™
for Lentivirus Analytics
Alongside purification ligands, Tozaro has developed high-affinity Smart Polymer™ binders for rapid lentiviral vector analytics. Designed to selectively target the VSV-G envelope protein, these analytical ligands enable rapid and reliable lentivirus detection across a broad range of vector concentrations.
Demonstrated on the Sartorius Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) platform, Smart Polymers™ offer a powerful alternative to traditional ligands, helping scientists accelerate process development, optimize manufacturing conditions and make faster data-driven decisions.
compatibility demonstrated in commercial platform
proven performance across titers
to LV titer
Resources
FAQs
There are very few dedicated affinity solutions that have been developed specifically for lentivirus purification – instead, existing techniques for other targets have adapted. This means that there is nearly always a compromise:
- PEG → Simple and cost effective, but inefficient impurity removal
- Ultracentrifugation → Gold standard, but slow, low throughput
- AEX columns → Scalable, but lacks specificity
- Affinity resins → Specific, but expensive
Lentivirus Smart Polymers Magnetic Beads are designed specifically for the application, therefore they overcome a number of these challenges.
Smart Polymer™ ligands combine selective VSV-G binding with controlled affinity, allowing efficient capture and gentle elution of lentiviral vectors. This helps manufacturers achieve strong functional recovery while reducing host cell proteins (HCPs) and residual DNA in a simplified workflow.
VSV-G (Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein) is commonly used to pseudotype lentiviral vectors because it improves vector stability and broadens cell targeting capabilities. By specifically targeting VSV-G, Smart Polymer™ ligands can selectively capture lentiviral particles expressing VSV-G while minimizing the co-purification of process-related impurities lacking VSV-G.
Tozaro’s first generation of Lentivirus Smart Polymers have been designed to specifically bind to the VSV-G protein on lentiviruses. However, the design process means that they can be designed to bind other surface regions. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss a custom development to a different pseudotype.
Tozaro is working with industry partners to integrate Smart Polymer™ ligands onto GMP-compatible purification formats, including membranes and monoliths. These collaborations are focused on developing scalable purification solutions suitable for clinical and commercial lentiviral vector manufacturing.
Smart Polymer™ ligands can be incorporated into a range of purification and analytical formats, including magnetic beads, membranes, monoliths and biosensor platforms. This flexibility allows the technology to support research, process development and manufacturing applications. Smart Polymer™ Magnetic breads are available to purchase directly from Tozaro.
Yes. Tozaro has developed high-affinity Smart Polymer™ ligands for lentiviral vector analytics. These ligands have been demonstrated on commercial Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) platforms and enable rapid lentivirus detection and quantification across a broad range of vector titers.