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Journal of Chromatography & Separation Techniques | Volume: 09
8
th
World Congress on Chromatography
September 13-14, 2018 | Prague, Czech Republic
Polymer Science and Technology
4
th
International Conference on
Joint Event on
&
Hong Xue
Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology, Hong Kong
C
ountercurrent distribution based on liquid-liquid partition is a powerful
separation method with minimal incurrence of loss of solutes, but its
industrial application has been limited by cumbersome shifting of immiscible
solvents. Although centrifugation has been employed to facilitate equilibration
between phases, process scaling-up remains difficult. In this study, a dispersed
mobile-phase countercurrent chromatography (DMCC) method has been
developed to adapt the countercurrent distribution principle to a continuous
column chromatography format. Continuous solute-exchange between two
immiscible phases within a series of separation columns is achieved by mechanical
dispersion of an influx of mobile phase into an upward stream of small droplets
travelling through the columns filled with stationary phase. The diameter, length
and number of columns and the number of stationary phases employed in the
different columns can be varied to match the requisite scale and resolution of
operation. Illustrations of DMCC were provided by examples of solute separations
where the fractionated solutes could be collected either from the eluate of the
series of columns or from drainage of the stationary phases in the individual
columns at the end of a chromatographic run.
Hong Xue, J Chromatogr Sep Tech 2018, Volume: 09
DOI: 10.4172/2157-7064-C2-042
Dispersed mobile-phase countercurrent chromatography
Biography
Hong Xue has obtained her MD from the Shanghai Second Military Medical University in 1983, PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences and Department
of Biochemistry, University of Toronto in 1992, and carried out Post-doctoral studies at the Department of Genetics, University of Glasgow before joining the
Department of Biochemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST). Currently, she is the Director of Applied Genomics Center of HKUST, and
Professor of Life Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her group research focuses on genomics, bioinformatics and evolution biology to
decipher the mechanisms of human complex diseases, in particular, schizophrenia. The group is also interested in translational research on novel therapeutics and
diagnostics for complex neuropsychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression and neurodegenerative disorders, with a focus on GABAA receptors as the drug
targets. In order to effectively isolate active components from medicinal herbs, her group has recently developed a novel chromatographic method designated as
Disbursed Mobile-Phase Countercurrent Chromatography (DMCC). In 2003, she and her team discovered the association between schizophrenia and a segment
of the GABRB2 gene encoding the
b2
subunit of GABAA receptors, the positive selection of genotypes and haplotypes in this segment, determinant role of this
segment in the alternate splicing of the
b2
subunit protein, and the differential modulation of the GABA-induced membrane current by the long and short forms. These
discoveries represent therefore the first instance where a schizophrenia-susceptibility gene has been linked to protein processing and further to electrophysiological
response of neurons, thereby opening the door toward understanding the mechanism of schizophrenia etiology leading from gene to neuronal phenotype.
hxue@ust.hk