Velabs Therapeutics has announced that its cooperation with Chiome Bioscience, Tokyo, will be deepened, to jointly discover modulatory and functional antibodies for one of Chiome’s G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) target genes. The collaboration will capitalise on Velabs’ microfluidics-based technology in the field of functional antibody screening.
Chiome Bioscience is a leading expert in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies for clinical applications with unmet medical need. The company has the exclusive license of the ADLib antibody generation technology from RIKEN and has several preclinical and clinical development programmes for its therapeutic antibodies.
Velabs Therapeutics, a recent start-up company of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is a pioneer in microfluidic technology for screening of antibodies with modulatory function on complex signal proteins like GPCRs or ion channels. The high-throughput screening platform allows for testing millions of correctly paired fully natural IgGs from humans and mice for therapeutic effects, rather than just for binding. Results are obtained in only a fraction of the time required by other technologies. The company offers customised screening services for users worldwide. Besides carrying out service projects, Velabs is currently also establishing its own proprietary pipeline of therapeutic antibody candidates for further joint development.
“We are delighted about the successful termination of the initial feasibility phase and the current start of a joint development on functional GPCR antibodies,” said Christoph Antz (Managing Director, Velabs). “Chiome’s decision to continue this project after a successful feasibility study represents an important validation of our technology for the screening and generation of functional antibodies on complex signal proteins like GPCRs,” added Christoph Merten (scientific founder and CSO, Velabs).