Smart polymer for antibody purification

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Therapeutic strategies involving human monoclonal antibodies are becoming increasingly prevalent. Thus, the desire to reduce the cost of these drugs is exerting considerable pressure to make the manufacturing process more efficient and cost effective. However, while cell-culturing technology to produce antibodies has improved to deliver yields greater than 5 g/L, purification of the antibody from the medium has become a major process bottleneck. Currently, the use of chromatography columns that selectively capture antibodies from cell culture medium is the most effective method for purifying antibodies. Unfortunately, existing columns are extremely expensive, require harsh cleaning/regeneration processes in order to be reused, and often bind the target in a less-than-stoichiometric amount due to its immobilization on a solid support. To address these shortcomings, BioAstra Technologies Inc. and INRS will develop a recyclable scavenger that can capture and retrieve monoclonal antibodies from cell culture medium, thereby bypassing the need for chromatography. This project represents an excellent opportunity to train HQP in this area, which is of great social and economic importance. The output of this project will constitute a major technological advance that will reduce the cost of monoclonal antibodies and their corresponding therapies.