Financiering MZW OZR: RAPTOR: Rapid Analysis and production of Proteins for clinical Translation using biacORe and bioreactOR systems.

The use of biological compounds for medical applications has seen a tremendous growth. These compounds are derived from living organisms and have distinct advantages over small molecules, including improved specificity, efficacy, safety and the potential for personalized medicine. The implementation of recombinant proteins such as monoclonal antibodies, antibody fragments, vaccines, enzyme replacements, growth factors and cytokines has expanded diagnosis and treatment options leading to improved patient outcomes in almost all areas of healthcare. The VUB Molecular Imaging and Therapy (MITH) research group is specialized in the development of novel protein-based diagnostica and therapeutica and shares its knowledge and infrastructure with other biomedical researchers. Developed biomedicines need thorough biochemical and -physical characterization before testing in relevant animal models of disease. Proficient compounds are targeted for clinical translation, and a new protein GMP facility is now available in-house to expedite this global vision to maximally generate clinical impact. The two types of devices of this proposal complement existing infrastructure. A bioreactor system is aimed to optimize and upscale microbial production of the medicinal proteins for (pre)clinical testing. A next-generation biacore system is essential to characterize protein-protein interactions and functionality of the biomedicines, using surface plasmon resonance.