Development of functional living materials for monoclonal antibody purification

Abstract

Functional Living Materials (FLMs) offer a promising approach to biological engineering, utilizing living organisms to enhance the quality of products or functional materials. Their key advantages lie in their sustainability and low cost of maintenance. Unlike chemicals, inorganic materials, or even proteins that require constant supply and purchase, FLMs can self-proliferate under specific nutrient conditions, providing a convenient and cost-effective solution. One application explored in this thesis is the development of living materials to replace the existing monoclonal antibody purification process, a crucial step in preparing purified monoclonal antibodies. While current affinity chromatography purification methods are widely used, they account for approximately 30% of the overall cost of monoclonal antibody purification, placing a significant burden on customers who require these antibodies for industrial, research, and medical purposes [1]. To address this challenge, protein A from Staphylococcus aureus was displayed on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and tested for its efficiency in capturing and eluting monoclonal antibodies. This process mimics the current industry standard using protein A resins. The results demonstrated that this living material effectively captures monoclonal antibodies of interest across a wide range of concentrations and recovers them with increased purity, even in the presence of contaminants. This breakthrough opens up the opportunity to purify monoclonal antibodies on a large scale with significantly reduced costs, eliminating the need for complex and expensive machinery.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Fei SUN (Supervisor)