Jun 12 2018
AbCellera Biologics Inc. today announced the successful completion of the first phase of its collaboration with Denali Therapeutics Inc. Under the collaboration, AbCellera applied its single-cell screening technology to discover hundreds of novel monoclonal antibodies with specific binding properties against a genetically-validated target for neurodegenerative disease.
Denali's CEO, Ryan Watts, Ph.D., commented, "We are thrilled to collaborate with AbCellera to discover biologics candidates that leverage our proprietary Antibody Transport Vehicle ("ATV") to cross the blood-brain barrier and that could ultimately benefit patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. We are impressed with the AbCellera team's expertise and approach."
AbCellera performs ultra-deep screening of natural immune repertoires from any species to discover antibodies from millions of single cells per run, including plasma cells, B-cells and antibody-secreting cells. AbCellera's platform supports a wide array of single-cell antibody selection assays, combining multi-step and multiplexed binding measurements, and live-cell assays. The combination of speed, screening depth, and greater specificity generates thousands of high-quality antibodies, and translates to successful discovery against difficult targets such as membrane proteins, GPCRs and ion channels.
Beyond its core microfluidic screening technology, AbCellera capabilities integrate expertise in animal immunizations for any species (including humanized rodent platforms), assay design, bioinformatic analysis using a proprietary suite of software and visualization tools, and antibody characterization for developability and engineering. The approach has been validated in multiple partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, proving successful when other technologies, including hybridoma, display technologies and emerging B cell selection platforms, have fallen short.
"This partnership exemplifies our commitment to work with companies at the forefront of innovation in antibody therapeutics. Neurodegenerative disease is one of the most important frontiers for biologics. It is also one of the most challenging, and bringing new therapies to patients will require the best possible technologies on every front," commented Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera. "The speed and success of this project highlight what can be achieved when companies work closely together and share complementary technologies. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Denali team and we are excited to be providing innovation that enables their most demanding discovery programs."
Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
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