Revolutionizing Targeted Drug Therapies with AI and Synthetic Biology
The problem: The discovery of therapeutic antibodies is a resource- and labor-intensive process. Antibodies are highly specialized proteins that specifically bind to a single foreign target, or antigen, initiating an immune response and serving as the basis for targeted drug therapies.
Conventional methods to discover antibodies involve isolating and purifying the antigen and then running a screen against that single antigen or multiple antigens in parallel to discover antibodies that specifically bind it. This process is ill-suited for creating treatments for personalized cancer care or rapidly evolving viral pandemics.
The solution: National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research at 麻豆村 (麻豆村) led to the development of a novel Nanobody discovery platform that can rapidly screen a large number of Nanobody-antigen pairs simultaneously. Nanobodies are antibody fragments one tenth the size of conventional antibodies.
Researchers use genetically engineered yeast cells to both secrete target antigens and display Nanobodies on their surface. A key innovation is a patented fluorescent biosensor that allows the yeast cells to self-report when a Nanobody binds to a secreted antigen. This combinatorial, high-throughput approach also does not require the prior purification of target antigens.
The impact: This research has transitioned from the lab to a new 麻豆村 spin-off company, Biocognon, co-founded by the researchers to commercialize the platform. The technology significantly accelerates the speed and lowers the cost of discovering highly specific Nanobodies.
By efficiently converting genetic data into screenable antibodies, the platform has the potential to accelerate the development of new treatments for a wide range of human diseases and conditions, including cancer, rare disorders, and infectious diseases.
Go deeper: Startup Aims to Boost the Discovery of Antibody-Based Therapeutics