AbCellera Announces Successful Completion of Collaboration for the Discovery of Fully Human Antibodies Against Pathogenic E. Coli and Ebola Virus

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 20, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AbCellera announced today successful completion of its first antibody discovery partnership with MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) under the ADEPT-PROTECT program, was directed towards rapid human antibody discovery for infectious diseases.

Through this collaboration AbCellera demonstrated single cell antibody discovery with throughput of millions of cells per experiment, allowing for the efficient and deep screening of natural antibody responses from patients following infection or challenge. Using AbCellera’s platform, the selection and sequencing of fully human antibodies was achieved in as little as five days. Screening of over 10 million single B cells was used to discover a panel of hundreds of ultra-rare antibodies against multiple targets from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In a separate element of the collaboration, AbCellera also identified hundreds of human anti-Ebola antibodies from a single blood sample obtained from a convalescent human patient, and provided sequences of a select subset of antibodies in less than a week.  

Dr. Carl Hansen, CEO and co-founder of AbCellera commented: “We are very pleased with the success of this project, which has clearly established our platform as a powerful approach for human antibody discovery. In particular, our data has demonstrated single cell antibody screening with combined speed, throughput and assay flexibility that is unmatched. In addition to infectious diseases, these capabilities are enabling for applications in immuno-oncology, and will open new opportunities for rapid functional profiling of human immune responses.”

This work was made possible by close collaboration between team members from AbCellera and MassBiologics within the frame of the ADEPT-PROTECT program. “We would like to thank Dr. Mark Klempner for his leadership in this project, as well as Drs. Colby Souders, William Thomas, Yang Wang, Keith Reimann, Lisa Cavacini, and the larger MassBiologics scientific team. Their efforts have made this both a very enjoyable and a productive partnership. We are grateful for DARPA’s support and it has been an honor to be of service in this important and forward-looking initiative led by Colonel Dan Wattendorf to bolster rapid pandemic response and biodefense.” said Dr. Hansen.

For more information on AbCellera and potential partnership opportunities, please visit www.abcellera.com or contact:

Kevin Heyries
Telephone: 604-827-4151
Email: [email protected] 

About AbCellera Biologics Inc.
AbCellera is a privately held biotechnology company that provides enabling technologies for the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies directly from natural immune cells.

AbCellera’s lead technology is a proprietary single cell antibody discovery platform that provides pharma and biotech partners with the ability to rapidly identify mAb therapeutic candidates from the natural immune repertoires of any species, including humans. For more information, please visit www.abcellera.com

About MassBiologics

MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School is the only publicly owned, non-profit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines and other biologic products in the United States. The laboratory was established in 1894 by the state Board of Health to produce diphtheria antitoxin. Since that time, the focus at MassBiologics has been to improve public health through applied research, development and production of biologic products. In 1997, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts transferred MassBiologics operations from the Department of Public Health to UMass Medical School to “maintain their public purpose, preserving their ability to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace and to maximize their value to the Commonwealth.”

About the University of Massachusetts Medical School

The University of Massachusetts Medical School has built a reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. The Medical School attracts more than $270 million in research funding annually, 80 percent of which comes from federal funding sources. The mission of the Medical School is to advance the health and well-being of the people of the commonwealth and the world through pioneering education, research, public service and health care delivery with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. For more information, visit http://www.umassmed.edu/.