Integral Molecular Develops B-Cell Cloning Technology to Discover Rare Antibodies against Membrane Proteins

Integral Molecular has developed an ultra high-throughput microfluidic B-cell cloning technology that can interrogate tens of millions of immune cells (B-cells), enabling deep mining of entire immune repertoires to discover rare and diverse monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic purposes.

B-cell cloning represents a pivotal expansion of the company’s MPS Discovery Engine® platform for isolating monoclonal antibodies against membrane protein targets.

Combined with the company’s proprietary Lipoparticle technology for display of concentrated membrane proteins, antibodies are isolated that recognize membrane proteins in their native conformation, these being the most useful class of antibodies for therapeutics. In addition, specialized screening assays can be incorporated to isolate antibodies with desired functional properties for targeted therapeutic applications.

The technology entails encapsulating individual antibody secreting B-cells, together with antigen displaying Lipoparticles, into picoliter-sized droplets. Fluorescent signals are emitted when antibody recognition occurs within the droplet, allowing laser-sorting of droplets and B-cell isolation. This approach enables rapid interrogation of a host animal’s entire immune repertoire, antibody isolation directly from host cells for natural heavy and light-chain pairing, and isolation of diverse antibodies.

“This technology transforms antibody discovery for membrane protein targets,” says Dr. Ross Chambers, Director of Antibody Discovery and developer of the B-cell cloning technology.

“The combination of antigen display on Lipoparticles, use of evolutionarily divergent species for antibody elicitation against conserved targets, and now B-cell cloning for rapid isolation of rare antibodies enable us to deliver first-in-class therapeutic candidates to our discovery partners.”