Antibody Engineering

Custom antibodies are essential tools for drug discovery and academic research. Hybridoma cells offer a proven method for producing custom monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Successful hybridoma production takes months, requiring frequent hands-on manipulation. Single B cell isolation is a powerful and fast antibody engineering workflow. B cells are isolated, sorted and screened. Genetic material is extracted from top candidate B cells and transfected into acceptor cells to create new cell lines that produce your antibody. Partner with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences to make going from B cell to production cell line even more swift with our portfolio of instruments and custom automation solutions. Beckman Coulter Life Sciences will work as a part of your team to incorporate solutions that simplify your hybridoma and mAb production workflow. Bring hybridoma and single B cell engineering into the present and reduce your workload by automating time-consuming steps and incorporating our precision instruments at every step of generating your custom antibodies.

Antibody engineering is the process of developing an antibody with optimal characteristics (affinity, stability, activity, glycosylation, etc.). Following discovery, an antibody may require further engineering to improve characteristics associated with therapeutic activity.

Hybridoma technology using cell fusion laid the initial foundation for monoclonal antibody development and is still widely used today. More recently, cell, phage and other display library systems have further advanced antibody development. Humanized monoclonal and part-monoclonal antibody therapeutics are now among the most successful biotherapeutics.

The Complexity of Antibody Development

Generating an antibody with dependable, predictable, and intended performance is a long process that can take months. The complexity and demands of the process often result in bottlenecks that reduce efficiency and can introduce errors. For the researcher, maximizing throughput and accuracy through all the complexity is a key determinant of success.

Increasing Throughput and Efficiency with Automation

Laboratory automation can greatly accelerate antibody generation and selection against specific targets of interest, and can increase consistency of results. Fully automated antibody engineering workstations are designed to increase throughput, deliver high-quality results and efficiently track comprehensive workflow data—all with minimal user intervention.

Biomek Workstations permit the automation of routine and sensitive tasks, including cell culture, limiting dilution, hit picking, ELISA and protein quantification, and offer a walk-away solution for several workflows.

A Biomek Workstation can also be integrated with a wide variety of analytical and peripheral devices, enabling customization to a specific workflow, in addition to providing flexibility and expandability for future needs. Parallel processing can be scheduled using SAMI Process Management Software, and is an important feature, as it allows for increased throughput and additional flexibility.

An integrated Biomek SAMI EX Workstation can automate a complex and long-term workflow through the use of SAMI Process Management software. The automation of the liquid handling steps can reduce the time scientists spend on these labor-intensive tasks while also eliminating user-to-user variability. However, the true value for long-term experiments is the ability to accurately schedule workflow steps for overlapping experiments in advance, thereby reducing the likelihood of forgetting a step.

In addition, the continuity that comes from maintaining the plates on the system helps to eliminate plate mix-ups that stem from user intervention.