About us

Protein Factory is a biotechnological platform built on the expertise and equipment available in the academic setting of the Centre for Protein Engineering (CIP), at the University of Liège (ULiège).

Besides our production facility, we provide a wide range of complementary techniques for protein analysis, including various spectroscopic methods (i.e. UV-Vis absorbance, fluorescence, circular dichroism and state-of-the-art infrared spectroscopy, the latter in collaboration with SBBC), methods for measuring biomolecular interactions (Surface Plasmon Resonance, Bio-Layer Interferometry and ITC) and enzyme kinetics (both steady- and transient-state kinetics, the latter with the help of modern stopped- and quenched-flow apparatus when fast mixing is required), and finally X-ray crystallography for high resolution structure determination.

Protein Factory is also very active in training and provides:

• A practical and theoretical training for job seekers, which is organized by the GIGA-Forem.
• An advanced course on “Protein Purification: What to do and how”, organized yearly (since 2000) in collaboration with the F.R.S.-FNRS graduate school “Structure and Function of Biological Macromolecules, Bioinformatics and Modelling”.
• A guidance in the use of expression (fermentation units) and purification equipments.

Together with the Structural Biology and Bioinformatics Centre (SBBC) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Structural Biology Brussels (SBB) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the CIP is part of the Belgium INSTRUCT Affiliated Centre (BIACe), which aims to provide a modern and complete structural biology platform and knowledge centre on a national scale and opens up a number of unique technologies to the international INSTRUCT user community.

Why choose us?

• More than 30 years of expertise in protein production,
• Production at both analytical and pilot scale,
• Efficient protocols,
• Complementary expertise in protein characterization,
• Reliable and high quality service.

Protein Factory can provide many services, such as:

• Cloning in bacteria and yeast,
• Expression of recombinant proteins at analytical or preparative scales,
• Separation of cells and culture supernatants,
• Protein purification using various purification techniques at laboratory or pilot scale.