NSF Award
9860120
9860120<br/> This SBIR Phase I project is aimed at developing a rapid, automated method to select hybridoma cells from a heterogeneous population using agarose gel microencapsulation technology and flow cytometry. Individual hybridoma cells will be encapsulated into agarose gel microdrops (GMDs) that have a protein antigen anchored to the agarose matrix, allowing the protein antigen to function as the capture molecule. Hybridoma secreted antibodies that interact with the anchored protein antigen will be detected with a fluorescently labeled anti-IgG antibody within the GMD, permitting isolation of hybridomas by fluorescently activated cell sorting (FACS) based on the affinity of the secreted antibodies for the protein antigen. GMD-containing displaying a high degree of fluorescence will be sorted, pooled, cultured, and subsequently screened in a second pass of the selection assay. The end result will be hybridoma cells secreting high affinity antibodies directed towards the desired protein antigen. Current methods for screening hybridoma cells are labor intensive, costly, and unreliable.<br/> Development of a rapid, automated method to isolate specific or high antibody producing hybridoma cells of interest would find broad application in the large scale production of many genetically engineered proteins for therapeutic or human in vitro diagnostic use.
