Hybridoma Solution for Antibody Discovery

• Antigen formats: soluble protein, short peptide, DNA, mRNA, whole cell, AAV, and VLPs
• Animal platforms: humanized mouse^Hot, wild-type mouse, hamster, and rat

Choosing the right animal platform and antigen format are both important to successful immunization and downstream candidate identification. We offer multiple antigen formats for immunization, and all antigens prepared by VectorBuilder are subject to strict QC measures. Alternatively, antigens can be prepared and shipped directly by customers. Soluble proteins are usually preferred immunogens because of their easy access and controllable dosage. However, they may not be suitable when the target antigen is a membrane-bound protein or has low immunogenicity. In such cases, other strategies can be considered, including whole cell, DNA, mRNA, VLPs, and virus-based immunization.

When considering an animal model for immunization, wild-type mice are the most common choice. We also offer other rodents, such as hamsters and rats, for cross-species or surrogate antibody discovery. Additionally, HuAb, an advanced humanized mouse model, is fully integrated into our hybridoma workflows. In these mice, genes encoding the variable regions of antibody heavy and light chains are replaced with human counterparts, enabling one-stop in vivo discovery for therapeutics. This allows researchers to bypass downstream humanization, and therefore accelerates antibody development by about one year.

• State-of-art electrofusion technology enabling a fusion rate up to 0.1%-1%
• Early-stage hybridoma segregation to save months of subcloning time

Hybridoma technology combines a cell’s ability to secret desired antibodies with immortality. B cells extracted from immunized animals are electrofused with myeloma cells, followed by early compartmentalization and individual expansion of hybridoma cell lines.

• ELISA, Western blot, and FACS with large screening capacity
• Hybridoma pool preservation available

The screening process is critical in antibody discovery. After hybridoma expansion, the supernatants containing secreted antibodies are screened for ideal candidates. VectorBuilder offers a variety of screening strategies, and has the capacity to screen up to 10,000 clones per campaign. Functional supernatant and positive clones are preserved during this process. Upon requests, we can also store the hybridoma pool to facilitate additional screenings.

Top-ranking antibody candidates identified through screening are expressed and purified for comprehensive characterization. Our service portfolio spans:

• Specificity of antigen recognition
• Affinity measurement and ranking by bio-layer interferometry (BLI)
• Antibody sequencing
• Epitope binning
• Cross-reactivity assessment
• In vitro functional analyses

With our advanced humanized mouse platform for antibody discovery, there is no need for optimization such as humanization or affinity maturation. However, for conventional hybridoma development using wild-type mice, we offer the following antibody optimization services:

• Antibody humanization
• Affinity maturation
• Early-stage developability optimization

In addition, we offer antibody engineering services to meet the demands of the fast-evolving therapeutic antibody market, including:

• Fc engineering
• Bispecific engineering
• Bioconjugation
• CAR engineering
• Stable cell line construction