Microfluidic selection of monoclonal antibodies

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nearly 20 years ago, partially as a response to leveraging the genomics research the NIH invested in the development of gene array technologies. These gene chips' enabled great breakthroughs in our understanding of the underlying biological processes that occur in cells and tissues. These increased understandings have already led to new therapies that affect the way we now successfully treat and diagnose major diseases, including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. But ge nes have always been a poor surrogate for what scientists are really eager to understand; the protein make-up and interactions occurring both within and between cells and tissues. In this proposal we describe a microfluidics-based method for obtaining anti bodies and affinity-reagents that can be developed for making antibody arrays. We want to develop an inexpensive high-throughput means of selecting and identifying antibodies to both unmodified and modified protein and peptide antigens. The successful comp letion of this STTR and our future goals will have significant direct impact on the development of new therapeutic targets, new immunotherapeutics, and prognostics and diagnostic biomarkers.