Commercialization of a new technology for therapeutic antibody discovery - I2I phase IIb

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In this proposal we will develop and validate a new technology for the discovery of antibodies for use as therapeutics that is faster, less expensive, and more effective than current approaches. Antibodies are nature's natural response to infection and disease and are also the fastest growing class of therapeutics. The immune response makes billions of unique antibodies, each of which can specifically recognize and eliminate a foreign agent (bacteria, virus, cancer cell). However, finding the best antibody is extremely challenging and represents a major obstacle to advancing new therapies. The technology developed here will provide a new route to antibody discovery that is based on using miniaturized fluid handling devices, called microfluidics, to directly characterize antibodies produced by individual immune cells. In contrast to conventional methods that require long and expensive cell culture steps, this approach enables the parallel analysis of hundreds of thousands of cells in a single day, allowing for the rapid identification of the ones that make antibodies with optimal properties. The work performed here will bring this technology to a state of commercial readiness, including the development of enhanced devices, instrumentation, and protocols. The results of this work will then by commercialized by a new Canadian company focused on improving the speed and effectiveness of antibody drug discovery.