Screening of Hybridoma Supernatants, a COVID-19 Case Study

Key Takeaways

Perform high-throughput capture kinetics and competition characterization on hybridoma samples.
Screen 1,800 clones using only 70 μg of sample.
Analyze broad kinetic ranges from a single concentration series of samples.
Quickly view and select the most suitable clones with user-friendly analysis software.

Introduction

The rapid global spread of infectious agents necessitates the urgent need to identify therapeutic candidates quickly. However, the modern drug discovery process is challenged by time constraints from the analysis, characterization, selection and development of lead therapeutic candidates.

Here we present the rapid kinetic and functional screening of 1,800 hybridoma cell culture supernatant samples containing SARS-Cov-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) specific antibodies generated from immunized mice. Following the full kinetic characterization of the antibodies, a selection of high affinity antibodies antagonizing the interaction between the RBD and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is required for viral entry, has been performed using the Carterra LSA platform. The whole process including data evaluation, analysis and clone selection has been performed within a work week highlighting the benefits implementing high-throughput SPR (HT-SPR) in early drug discovery. Carterra’s LSA platform with proprietary Kinetics software and Epitope software is enabling drug discovery and contract research organizations (CROs) to streamline the discovery process by generating deep information content data. This is resulting in making decisions earlier in the discovery process thereby facilitating stronger selection of therapeutic antibody candidates to further investigate.

This COVID-19 study has been performed in collaboration with Takis Biotech whom we thank for supplying the 1,800 hybridoma culture supernatant containing potentially COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies.

Posted by Judicaël Parisot, PhD