Self-Purifying Antibodies by Phase Separation

Ashutosh Chilkoti of Duke University in the U.S. will develop a biomanufacturing platform for low-cost production of the antimalarial monoclonal antibody MAM01 based on a fusion protein enabling both capture and purification of the antibody in a chromatography-free process. The fusion protein will comprise an antibody-binding affinity tag fused to an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) enabling liquid-liquid phase separation of the protein. It will be engineered to optimize its secretion by Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and its reversible phase separation via its ELP domain. Protein co-expression strategies for antibody production will also be optimized, including comparing genomic integration of the fusion protein and MAM01 sequences in the same cell line versus in separate cell lines in the same bioreactor. These tests will be used to determine the purification strategy that maximizes MAM01 yield while minimizing process cost.

This grant is one of three grants that are funded and administered by LifeArc.