Grant: Idea to Innovation

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