Development of affordable at-line surface plasmon resonance technology for critical quality attribute assessment of complex biologics

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Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a technique that uses optical measurement of the refractive index of a metal surface to detect binding of an analyte to receptors on this surface. A typical sensor is based off a glass support surface coated with a gold film. Receptors are then bound to the gold film. Light shone on the underside of the gold film is reflected at a critical angle and received by a sensor. Molecules binding to the surface affect the critical angle and therefore the concentration of binding analyte can be measured. As part of the network on the Production of Single Glycoform Monoclonal Antibodies (MabNet), Professor Aucoin is looking at developing processes that influence the glycosylation pattern of monoclonal antibodies produced in animal cell culture. The glycosylation pattern is known to influence dramatically the ability of an antibody to bind to different targets. He is also developing processes for the production of viruses and virus-like particles that can be used in vaccines. Both of these types of complex biologics need to be characterized through their ability to bind to other molecules. Helping develop an affordable SPR device such as the one being produced by Nicoya Lifesciences, a Waterloo-based start-up company, will certainly prove to be an invaluable process analytical tool (PAT) which will help in the monitoring of a critical quality attribute (CQA) of important therapeutic biomolecules (namely therapeutic antibodies, viruses and virus-like particles).