Beyond Conventional SEC: Deeper Molecular Insights for Biotherapeutics with SEC-MALS

As biotherapeutics become increasingly complex, understanding molecular size alone may not provide the complete characterization picture. From proteins and monoclonal antibodies to peptides and other emerging modalities, researchers need greater insight into molecular weight, aggregation, oligomeric state and sample heterogeneity to support confident development and characterization.

Size Exclusion Chromatography coupled with Multi-Angle Light Scattering (SEC-MALS) extends conventional SEC by enabling direct, calibration-independent determination of absolute molecular weight and deeper characterization of molecular species.

Join this webinar to explore how SEC-MALS works, what additional insights it can provide for biotherapeutic characterization, and how an integrated Agilent workflow brings together LC, SEC columns, MALS detection and software for confident analysis. Through practical application examples, discover how SEC-MALS can help characterize proteins and other biotherapeutic molecules, investigate aggregates and oligomers, and move beyond separation toward deeper molecular understanding.

Key Learnings:

• Understand when and why to use SEC-MALS to address biotherapeutic characterization questions beyond conventional SEC analysis.
• Learn how to build an effective SEC-MALS workflow, from SEC column selection and separation through MALS detection, data analysis and interpretation.
• See how SEC-MALS is applied to real biotherapeutic challenges, and translate the resulting molecular insights into more informed characterization decisions.

Presenter: Dr. Miriam Lossa (R&D Scientist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Miriam holds a PhD in Chemistry from UNSW Sydney, Australia, where she conducted research in analytical, nanoparticle, and polymer science for drug delivery in ovarian cancer.

Prior to her PhD, she did her M.Sc. in Bioanalytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis at HS Fresenius in Idstein (Germany) and worked at PSS GmbH in Mainz (Germany) on advanced SEC coupling techniques such as MALS, DLS, and viscometry for the characterization of (bio) polymer and (bio)therapeutics.

She is currently working as R&D Scientist at Agilent Technologies, complementing with her expertise in SEC-MALS/DLS of biopharmaceuticals and (bio)polymers.

Presenter: Dr. Anne Seiffert (Technical Marketing, Product Support Engineer, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Anne holds a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in chemistry, with a strong background in organic and polymer chemistry. Her research includes supramolecular chemistry at Ghent University, Belgium, and doctoral work on the structural analysis of a polymeric dental implant coating. She began her career at PSS Polymer Standards Service GmbH, Germany, specializing in polymer characterization using GPC/SEC, and joined Agilent following its acquisition of PSS in 2022.

Presenter: Dr. Andrew Coffey (Senior Applications Chemist, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Following my Ph.D in peptide synthesis, I began my career at Agilent Technologies’ Church Stretton, UK facility over thirty years ago. In August 2011 I became Senior Applications Chemist for biomolecule chromatography and since then I have authored numerous application notes and delivered many seminars and training presentations.I try to help customers get the most from our Biocolumns portfolio.

Presenter: Sambasivarao Vattikuti (Pre-Sales Application Engineer, Agilent Technologies, Inc.)

Sambasivarao holds a Master of Pharmacy degree from SRM University, Chennai, and has 15 years of industry experience. He spent a decade working in New Product Development and Analytical Research & Development at leading pharmaceutical companies such as Syngene and MicroLabs.

Currently, he serves as an Application Engineer at Agilent Technologies, specializing in Chromatography, Dissolution, and Laboratory Informatics, with five years of experience in this role. His areas of expertise include Chromatography, Quality by Design (QbD), and Purification techniques.