Patent ID: 7732216

Claim:
A method for testing the integrity of a chromatography membrane sealed in a housing comprising: obtaining a chromatography device comprising a housing and having one or more chromatography membranes to be tested sealed in the housing; obtaining a selected analyte that will bind to the membrane(s) under standard binding conditions; placing the analyte in contact with the membrane(s) under standard binding conditions; eluting the analyte from the membrane(s) with an elution fluid to form an eluate containing the eluted analyte, the eluted analyte having a measurable concentration in the eluate; measuring a change in the concentration of the eluted analyte in the eluate over a period of time to provide an elution pattern for the tested membrane(s); comparing the elution pattern for the tested membrane(s) to a reference elution pattern for a membrane of known integrity; and determining the integrity of the tested membrane(s).