In the fields of biopharmaceuticals and life sciences, antibody development has always been an important and complex process. The traditional monoclonal antibody preparation process usually takes several months, from selective culture, screening of hybridoma positive clones to monoclonal hybridoma cells, and other multiple steps, which are not only time-consuming but also inefficient. In recent years, with the advancement of science and technology, the emergence of Beacon Optofluidic Systems has brought revolutionary changes to antibody development. This article will delve into the impact of the Beacon Optofluidic System on antibody development, providing a comprehensive analysis of the system principles, technical advantages, and practical application cases.

1、 Overview of Beacon Optofluidic System

The Beacon Optofluidic System is an innovative technology platform developed by Berkeley Lights, which integrates optoelectronic positioning technology and microfluidic technology to achieve high-throughput single-cell based cell biology research in the nano upgrade chamber of the chip. The system can accurately select, culture, and detect single cells in real-time on a single chip, and export the required target cells and clones. Its core modules include import, culture, assay, and export, which can smoothly complete most of the processes required for monoclonal cell line development.

The Beacon Optofluidic System utilizes Opto Electro Positioning technology and novel nanofluidic design to achieve precise manipulation of individual cells in the NanoPen of the chip. This system can perform cell culture, detection, screening, and export without damaging cells, avoiding the interference of cell damage and human factors in traditional methods, and improving the stability and repeatability of experiments.

2、 Technical advantages

1. Precise and non-destructive single-cell manipulation: Using a photoelectric positioning system, thousands of single cells can be easily manipulated simultaneously for parallel cultivation, analysis, and other research.

2. High throughput: Up to 4 chips can run simultaneously, with approximately 50000 cells, supporting multiple chip types to meet the experimental needs of different fluxes.

3. Fully automated: Cell import, culture, cloning, subcloning, detection, and screening are all automated processes, avoiding errors caused by manual operations.

4. Significant time savings: The discovery process of single B cell antibodies has been reduced from the conventional 3-6 months to 2 days, and the cloning process has been reduced from the conventional 2-3 weeks to about 3 days.

5. High sensitivity: NanoPen has a small volume and a high density of individual cells placed inside, making it easy to detect and highly sensitive.

3、 The impact on antibody development

1. Accelerate the antibody screening process: The Beacon Optofluidic System rapidly screens primary B cells from different animal species, significantly expanding the diversity of antibody sequences and increasing the probability of finding the best antibody. The traditional monoclonal antibody preparation process takes several months, while the Beacon system can isolate and identify primary B cells that produce antibodies in less than a day, greatly accelerating the speed of antibody screening. For example, Yiqiao Shenzhou successfully reduced the work that originally took 2-3 months to complete to 2 days using the Beacon technology platform, greatly accelerating the speed of antibody development.

2. Improve antibody quality: The Beacon system not only accelerates the antibody screening process, but also enhances the quality of antibodies. Through precise and non-destructive single-cell manipulation and high-throughput detection, the system is able to screen antibodies with excellent drug properties and high affinity. In the case of Yiqiao Shenzhou, the affinity of the obtained mouse monoclonal antibody reached 4.52E-10M, which is comparable to the positive control antibody. In addition, the Beacon system also supports multiple rounds of modification and optimization of the selected antibodies. The antibody genes are processed and modified through genetic engineering methods, transfected into engineered cells for reassembly, and subjected to functional screening and analysis to confirm whether the modification meets the requirements. This process has been shortened from traditional weeks to 3-5 days, greatly saving the time and cost of optimizing the antibody engineering process.

3. Promoting research on tumor immunotherapy: In the field of tumor immunotherapy, the Beacon Optofluidic System also shows great potential. This system can achieve specific activation of T lymphocytes and detect the secretion of specific cytokines, thereby achieving functional screening of T lymphocytes. The exported T lymphocytes after screening can be used in conjunction with downstream gene expression profiling analysis, T cell receptor sequencing, and T cell receptor modification methods to significantly improve screening efficiency. This provides important technical support for optimizing the dosage of therapeutic cells and verifying the efficiency of cell modification.

4. Expand research on in vitro cell co culture: In vitro cell co culture technology can simulate the microenvironment generated in vivo, facilitating the observation of interactions between cells and between cells and the culture environment, as well as exploring the mechanisms and potential targets of drug action. The Beacon Optofluidic System provides more research methods for in vitro cell co culture due to its precise cell manipulation and high throughput. For example, the Beacon system can achieve fully automated cell cloning and recovery within 5 days, easily obtaining high-quality clones with a monoclonal ratio of 99.5%. At the same time, the system also supports subcloning on the chip, enabling parallel cultivation of clones and subclones, providing more possibilities for research.

4、 Application Cases

1. Innovation in tumor immunotherapy: In the field of tumor immunotherapy, the Beacon Optofluidic System is widely used for screening and optimizing T cell receptors (TCRs). By directly isolating T cells from patients and using the Beacon system for high-throughput TCR clone screening, scientists can quickly identify TCR clones with strong tumor killing ability. Subsequently, these TCR clones can be further modified and optimized to enhance their affinity and specificity, ultimately for the development of cell therapies such as CAR-T. This process not only greatly shortens the development cycle of T cell therapy, but also improves the predictability and safety of treatment efficacy.

2. Refinement of antibody engineering modification: In terms of antibody engineering modification, the Beacon system has also demonstrated unique advantages. By sequencing the genes of the selected antibodies, researchers can accurately identify the key binding regions and sequence variations of the antibodies. Subsequently, using the automated operation process of the Beacon system, multiple rounds of genetic modification and subclone screening can be performed on these antibodies to optimize their affinity, stability, and pharmacological properties. This refined antibody engineering transformation strategy provides strong technical support for the development of more efficient and safer antibody drugs.

3. Discovery and validation of drug targets: In addition to antibody development and cell therapy, the Beacon Optofluidic System also plays an important role in the discovery and validation of drug targets. By combining gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 with the high-throughput screening capabilities of the Beacon system, researchers can knock out, knock in, or mutate specific genes at the single-cell level, observing the impact of these gene changes on cell function. This method not only helps to reveal the molecular mechanisms of disease occurrence and development, but also enables rapid screening of potential drug targets, providing new directions for new drug development.

In summary, the Beacon Optofluidic System, with its precise, efficient, and automated characteristics, is profoundly changing the traditional mode of antibody development. This system not only accelerates the process of antibody screening and optimization, improves the quality and drug properties of antibodies, but also promotes innovation and development in fields such as tumor immunotherapy, antibody engineering, and drug target discovery and validation. With the continuous maturity and improvement of technology, the Beacon Optofluidic System of Redbert (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is expected to play a more important role in the fields of biopharmaceuticals and life sciences, bringing more innovative treatment options to patients worldwide. Looking forward to the future, we look forward to seeing more research institutions and pharmaceutical companies adopt Beacon single-cell optical fiber systems to jointly promote the progress of antibody development and drug research and development. At the same time, we also look forward to the continued technological innovation and upgrading of the Beacon system to meet more complex and diverse research needs, and contribute more to the development of life sciences.

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