Date: Nov 15, 2012 Source: Yahoo Finance (
click here to go to the source)
Crystal Bioscience and Integral Molecular have launched a research collaboration to generate panels of chicken monoclonal antibodies against undisclosed therapeutic GPCR and ion channel targets. The collaboration will leverage the synergy between Integral Molecular's Lipoparticle technology for immunization with native conformation multispanning membrane proteins and Crystal's GEM technology for the recovery of monoclonal antibodies against otherwise conserved proteins raised in immunized chickens.
"We are excited to be working with Crystal Bioscience to develop antibodies in alternative species where there is increased likelihood of success in eliciting antibodies against epitopes conserved in mammals," said Dr. Joseph Rucker, Director of Research and Development at Integral Molecular. "We believe that this powerful combination of technologies for immunization and screening will culminate in the ability to produce antibodies against therapeutic targets that have been historically difficult to work with due to both their conformational complexity and high conservation."
"By combining Integral Molecular's ability to produce high levels of native conformation receptors with Crystal's ability to leverage avian immune repertoires, we expect to create a robust new path that will make antibody discovery for challenging targets more routine and predictable," said Dr. Bill Harriman, Chief Science Officer, Crystal Bioscience.
Integral Molecular's Lipoparticle technology represents a stable, cell-free solution for displaying high concentrations of membrane proteins in their native conformations for antibody and drug discovery applications. Integral Molecular offers custom-produced Lipoparticles containing user-specified membrane proteins, as well as a large selection of ReadyReceptor® Lipoparticles containing pre-validated high-concentration membrane proteins.
