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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 14: Poster Session II

BP 14.75: Poster

Dienstag, 10. März 2026, 18:00–21:00, P2

Cryogenic Structural Stability of Human Serum Albumin in Aqueous Solution Studied by SAXS/WAXS — •Lukas Tepper, Michael Paulus, Jaqueline Savelkouls, and Metin Tolan — TU Dortmund, Maria-Goeppert-Mayer-Straße 2, 44227 Dortmund

The behavior of proteins during extreme temperature changes plays a crucial role in the development of stable biopharmaceutical formulations. Freezing and thawing processes are widely used in the production, processing, and long-term storage of protein-based drugs, but they can cause denaturation, aggregation, or loss of biological activity.

Cryoprotectants such as glycerol or other polyols are commonly used to mitigate these effects. They can stabilize proteins and prevent aggregation, among other things by changing the water structure and the hydration shell.

For structural characterization of these processes, Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering offer direct access to protein conformation, intermolecular distances, and mesoscale ordering phenomena, enabling analysis of proteins in solution without crystallization.

In this work, we use SAXS/WAXS at beamlines BL2 and BL9 at DELTA to study human serum albumin in aqueous and cryoprotective environments during cooling down to −100 ^∘C and subsequent thawing. This allows us to analyze structural changes, stability, and possible reorganization processes across the entire cryogenic temperature range.

Keywords: SAXS; WAXS; HSA; Cryogen