Antibody Services
The Monash Antibody Technologies Facility (MATF) provides services for antibody production, assay development, robotics, high throughput screening and antibody characterisation. We use state-of-the-art equipment to support researchers not only from Monash University but elsewhere in Victoria, Australia and world-wide.
The primary focus in the platform is generating high-affinity monoclonal antibodies through advanced discovery techniques and antibody engineering. However, we are keen to help customers with their antibody or laboratory automation challenges. We are happy to develop new antibody screens and encourage our customers to bring their requests to us.
The staff from MATF work with our customers at every step to ensure the needs of each individual project are met and we are proud to follow a Quality Management System that is certified to ISO9001:2015.
The MATF Platform operates on a fee for services basis for all services and laboratory access.
Custom monoclonal antibody production
Our platform produces hybridoma cell lines expressing monoclonal antibodies against a custom target protein or peptide. The proprietary antigen microarray screening technology selects for large numbers of specific, high affinity, IgG secreting clones. We can perform these services with as little as 0.4mg of protein or 1mg of peptide and deliver up to five individual clones and antibody supernatants with a typical production time of 12–16 weeks.
Antibody sequencing
We can isotype and sequence mouse or rat antibodies from hybridoma cell lines generated at the facility as well as cell lines from outside the facility. Knowing the sequence of your mAb is required for humanisation of an antibody or for IP protection. The service includes the cloning and sequencing of the light and heavy chain variable regions.
Protein sequencing
Antibody protein de novo sequencing technology is used to determine the amino acid sequence of an unknown antibody using mass spectrometry from bottom-up proteomics techniques with multiple enzyme digests. Antibody protein sequencing does not require the hybridoma cell line or the DNA sequence.
SPR analysis
The principle uses of SPR analysis are to identify complimentary binding pairs of antibodies with recombinant antigen or to determine binding kinetics and affinity of antibodies with the parent antigen.
Custom ELISA development
MATF Antibody engineering service is currently on limited duties due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please contact Hayley Ramshaw to discuss your project requirements. Our platform produces hybridoma cell lines expressing monoclonal antibodies against a custom target protein or peptide. The proprietary antigen microarray screening technology selects for large numbers of specific, high affinity, IgG secreting clones. We can perform these services with as little as 0.4mg of protein or 1mg of peptide with a typical production time of 12–16 weeks. Additional services can be supplied on request.
Cell banking and long-term storage
Our team will cryopreserve your hyridoma cell lines and keep them in monitored liquid nitrogen tanks for safe storage. We routinely test our cell lines for mycoplasma by PCR screening.
Antibody engineering and humanisation
The antibody engineering service is currently on limited services due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please contact Dr Hayley Ramshaw for more details. We have extensive experience in the humanisation of monoclonal antibodies by grafting onto the closest human germline frameworks. This involves custom designing of 2 - 3 humanised VH and 2 - 3 VK constructs, subcloning into proprietary human IgG vectors, CHO cell expression and small-scale purification of 9 different versions.