lipase purification vs. LPS

[rhubner at molbiol.ox.ac.uk]

hi there everyone!
 in our lab a grant went down because a doctoral student couldn't purify some
lipases from bacteria free from LPS...  it's a pity for other students that had 
already started characterizing lipases from other strains at the molecular
level and planned to get comparative results out of their data... does the
presence of of LPS definitely mean that the work reached a dead-end? 
 I'm new to the group and have no knowledge of this work; I'm just wonderingif
others had similar experience...
Greetings, 
Roland