Role of smart polymers in protein purification and refolding

Affinity precipitation is a non-chromatographic method which is useful for purification and refolding of proteins. Quite often, a stimuli-sensitive polymer can be identified which selectively binds to the desired protein. For separation, the protein can be recovered from the precipitate of the protein-smart polymer complex. In case of a refolding experiment, binding of the solubilized protein (in its denatured form) with the polymer leads to the refolding of the protein.