SBIR Phase I: SAAS-based Mass Spectrometry Data Processing for Antibody Therapeutics for COVID-19 and Other Diseases

he broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be the increased likelihood of effective and affordable new antibody therapy development for COVID-19 and other diseases. Current software is time-intensive to advance antibody therapy development. The proposed software will provide rapid, accurate information about the function and safety of putative therapies, enabling faster deployment. This SBIR Phase I project will develop novel algorithms and interfaces for enhancing antibody analysis via mass spectrometry. The research will expand capacity and accuracy for detecting, characterizing, and quantifying antibody glycans, disulfide bonds, and impurities by capturing information from experimental metadata, sample preparation, instrument parameters, and instrument output and creating models for prediction of possible structures supported by the data. The proposed project aims to increase the quantity of antibody subunits that can be accurately detected and quantified. This process will take tenfold less time than current methods through the use of novel algorithms, customizable automatable processes, and integrated reporting tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.