Cambridge Healthtech Institute's 25th Annual

Recombinant Protein Expression and Production

Employing Cell Factories to Improve Quantity and Quality

January 17 - 18, 2023 ALL TIMES PST

The utilization of engineered therapeutic proteins for basic research, clinical diagnostics, and therapy continues to expand. These discovery activities and developability assessments require substantial amounts of candidate biomolecules and are challenging to express and produce. Great strides have been made in the expression, production, and purification of these valuable biomolecules. However, hurdles remain for improving quantity and quality while minimizing time and cost. Hear experts during the Recombinant Protein Expression and Production conference share their insights on applying and developing flexible expression platforms for efficient expression and production.

Tuesday, January 17

Registration (Indigo Foyer)12:45 pm

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Indigo Ballroom)1:00 pm

Organizer's Welcome Remarks1:30 pm

Mary Ann Brown, Executive Director, Conferences, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

ROOM LOCATION: Aqua Salon AB

EFFECTIVE EXPRESSION AND PRODUCTION OF UNIQUE PROTEINS

1:35 pm

Chairperson's Opening Remarks

Oleg Brodsky, Senior Principal Scientist, Structural Biology & Protein Sciences, Pfizer Inc.

1:40 pm

Improving Multiprotein Complex Production in Insect Cells Using Co-Expression of Chaperones and Co-Factors

Matthew R. Drew, Eukaryotic Protein Expression Lead, Protein Expression Lab, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.

Insect cell systems have become a vital tool in production of pharmaceutically relevant protein complexes for structural biology and drug discovery research. In many cases, in order to produce functional protein for these complexes, multiple chaperones or co-factors may be required. We discuss why co-expression is superior to co-infection, and investigate the role of specific chaperones in the production of complexes with case studies on important target proteins.


2:20 pm

Insect Cell Manufacture for COVID-19 and Other Vaccines

Nikolai Petrovsky, PhD, Research Director, Vaxine Pty Ltd.; Professor of Medicine, Flinders University

Our team employs insect cell protein synthesis together with artificial intelligence to accelerate vaccine development. We have used this approach to tackle development of vaccines against major public health threats including SARS-CoV-2, SARS, MERS, and influenza and our recombinant spike protein-based COVID-19 vaccine (Covax19/SpikoGen) obtained emergency use approval in the Middle East in October 2021, making this the first recombinant spike protein in the world to achieve approval. Our COVID-19 vaccine has many promising features including high yield, low cost, temperature stability and induces strong T and B cell memory that delivers broad protection with strong safety and tolerability.

2:50 pm Novel Affinity Chromatography Technology for Purification of Any Recombinant Protein

Emma Lind, Global Product Manager, Cytiva

Presenting a novel affinity chromatography technology for the purification of any recombinant protein in research and process development workflows. This method allows the resulting pure protein to be in its native and natural state. The improved workflow will benefit researchers and process developers who purify recombinant proteins.

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Indigo Ballroom)3:20 pm

4:00 pm

Proteins against Infectious Diseases of Poverty, a Case Study - mAbs against the Scourge of Cholera

Gary L. Pierce, PhD, Executive Director, ServareGMP

4:30 pm

geCHO, a Platform for the Production of Specific Glycoforms of Glycoproteins

Bjørn Voldborg, MSc, Head, National Biologics Facility, DTU Bioengineering, Technical University of Denmark

Glycosylation very often has a significant effect on the activity, function, and efficacy of protein-based therapeutics. Using the geCHO platform, different glycovariants of the protein-based drug candidates can be produced for research, development, and manufacturing of optimal glycoforms. The geCHO platform is also very useful for generating reagents for the studies of the effect of glycosylation on glycoproteins in vitro and in vivo.

5:00 pm

CHO Cell Line Expressing Enterovirus 71 VLPs in a Fed-Batch Process: A New Potential Production Platform

Bich Thao Nguyen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Research, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are potential vaccine candidates owing to their safety and ability to trigger an effective cellular and humoral immune response. To develop a VLP vaccine against hand, foot, and mouth disease, we tried producing Enterovirus 71 VLPs in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. In my presentation, I will demonstrate the potential of CHO cells as a promising production platform for Enterovirus 71 VLPs.

Close of Day5:30 pm

Wednesday, January 18

Registration and Morning Coffee (Indigo and Aqua Foyer)8:30 am

ROOM LOCATION: Aqua Salon CDE

9:00 am

Organizer's Remarks

Mary Ann Brown, Executive Director, Conferences, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

9:10 am Plenary Fireside Chat:

Supporting and Driving Biotech: Past, Present, and Future

PANEL MODERATOR:

Julie Ames, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Biocom California

Innovation can refer to something new, such as an invention, or the development and introduction of new practices. The end result is often a new product, but it can also be a new practice, procedure, or way of thinking. Change and challenges are often what inspire innovation and propel us forward into new ways of thinking and doing. This Fireside Chat convenes long-term supporters of PepTalk: The Protein Science and Production Week who will be exploring the following:

  • Innovations and technology development in the last 5 years ​
  • Takeaways from the post-pandemic world – what lessons did we learn?
  • Collaborations and strategic partnerships – advice to early-stage/small companies ​
  • Is there a trend toward diversification of scientists’ roles, skill sets and responsibilities? Why?
  • What is an unexpected market trend you are seeing?
  • What excites you/what keeps you working in this industry?
PANELISTS:

Amy K. Butler, PhD, President, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Taegen Clary, Vice President, Marketing, Unchained Labs

Jonathan Haigh, PhD, MBA, Vice President, Process Development, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies

Craig R. Monell, PhD, Senior Vice President, Business Operations, BioLegend (a PerkinElmer company)

Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Indigo Ballroom)10:15 am

ROOM LOCATION: Aqua Salon AB

PREDICTING AND PERFECTING THE BEST PRODUCTION HOSTS

11:00 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Jonathan Haigh, PhD, MBA, Vice President, Process Development, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies

11:05 am

Prediction for Deleterious Nucleotide Variants: Challenges with Synonymous and Co-Occurring Single-Nucleotide Variants (SNVs)

Nobuko H. Katagiri, PhD, Research Scientist, Office of Tissues & Advanced Therapies, CBER, FDA

The effects of deleterious synonymous or co-occurring multiple SNVs are much more challenging to identify and predict than nonsynonymous SNVs. We have developed prediction tools for identifying deleterious synonymous SNVs. Furthermore, we have proposed a new approach that can successfully assist in accurately predicting the effect of co-occurring variants. In this talk, strategies for predicting SNVs and some approaches to predict such exceedingly challenging nucleotide variants will be discussed.

11:35 am FEATURED PRESENTATION:

Using Soluble GFP as a Tool in Recombinant Mammalian Protein Expression 

Peter D. Sun, PhD, Chief, Structural Immunology Section, Lab of Immunogenetics, NIAID/NIH

Screening for high-level recombinant protein expression cells often requires laborsome analysis by ELISA. We report here a new method to screen for recombinant gene expression using secreted GFP. It allows high-throughput screening using a fluorescence plate reader. The expression level of a targeted recombinant protein is proportional to the GFP signals. It offers fast and cost-effective screening for recombinant protein expression clones.

12:05 pm Pelican Expression Technology Platform: A Sophisticated Toolbox Supporting Lead Development through Commercial

Diane Retallack, Senior Vice President, Platform Technologies and Innovations, Ligand Pharmacueticals

The Pelican Expression Technology is a robust, validated, cost-effective and scalable platform for recombinant protein production. An overview of how this Pseudomonas-based expression platform was developed specifically for recombinant protein production will be presented. Case studies demonstrate how the extensive Pelican toolbox of genetic elements and host strains, along with automated strain screening workflows, enable rapid and broad exploration of expression strategies to address complex and challenging disulfide-bonded protein scaffolds.

Session Break and Transition to Luncheon Presentation12:35 pm

12:45 pm LUNCHEON PRESENTATION:Introduction of Biopharmaceutical Development and Corynex Technology to Address Challenges in Manufacturing

Hayato Nagano, Lead Researcher, Research Institute for Bioscience Products and Fine Chemicals, Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services, as a fully integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), offers a broad range of innovative platform technologies and end-to-end solutions for biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing. In this presentation, we will show our CDMO capability and Corynex protein expression platform technology for biopharmaceuticals, which together can improve drug substance manufacturing.

1:15 pm LUNCHEON PRESENTATION:Toward Process Intensification with Methanol-Free Pichia

Iskandar Dib, PhD, Principal Scientist Process Development & Analytics, VALIDOGEN GmbH

VALIDOGEN’s unique AOX1 promoter variants that enable methanol-free protein production at multi-gram-per-liter titers offer several advantages that go far beyond mere safety concerns. Using methanol-free production combined with other elements of VALIDOGEN’s UNLOCK PICHIA toolbox, we established strategies to maximize space-time-yield and total product titer. Optimized methanol-free processes enable considerably shorter batch times and even continuous upstream processes, thus paving the way toward intensified processes for biopharma and precision fermentation.

Session Break1:45 pm

EXPRESSION AND PRODUCTION OF MEMBRANE PROTEINS

2:00 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Vincent Noireaux, PhD, Professor, Synthetic Biology and Biological Physics, University of Minnesota

2:05 pm

The COMPPÅ Expression Platform: From Cell-Free to Bac-Mam

Renato Bruni, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist, Center on Membrane Protein Production and Analysis, New York Structural Biology Center

The Center on Membrane Protein Production and Analysis (COMPPÅ) is a resource for advanced studies on membrane proteins, emphasizing technological innovation and cutting-edge biological applications. The center offers a gene-to-structure pipeline with an emphasis on expression and purification of membrane proteins. Here we present our various expression platforms which range from a cell-free approach to several prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems.

2:35 pm

An All-E. coli Cell-Free Toolbox: in vitro Synthesis of Soluble and Membrane Proteins

Vincent Noireaux, PhD, Professor, Synthetic Biology and Biological Physics, University of Minnesota

Cell-free transcription-translation (TXTL) has become a highly versatile multidisciplinary technology for bioengineering and synthetic biology. By enabling the rapid expression of genes and gene circuits, TXTL integrates an ever-growing variety of applications. In this talk, I will present an all-E. coli TXTL system, the extent of its capabilities, and the cell-free synthesis and characterization of membrane proteins.

3:05 pm

Cell-free Scaled Production and Adjuvant Addition to a Recombinant Membrane Proteins from Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia muridarum for Vaccine Development

Matthew Coleman, PhD, Senior Scientist & Group Leader, Biosciences and Biotechnology Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

While proteins are typically produced within cells, cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is a versatile biological technique that takes the existing transcriptional and translational machinery from cells. The combination of CFPS with multiple nanodisc platforms enables the production of hard-to-produce membrane proteins in their native-like state. The process is scalable and adaptable. We combined these technologies, to produced multiple types of membrane bound Chlamydial proteins for characterization and vaccine studies.

PepTalk Plaza: Speed Networking

IN-PERSON ONLY:

Speed Networking

Mary Ann Brown, Executive Director, Conferences, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

Bring yourself, your phone, or your business cards (if you still have them) and be prepared to share and summarize the key elements of your research in a minute. PepTalk will provide a location, timer, and fellow attendees to facilitate the introductions.

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Indigo Ballroom)3:35 pm

EXPRESSION AND PRODUCTION OF ENZYMES

4:15 pm FEATURED PRESENTATION:

Protein Expression and Purification of G-Protein Coupled Receptor Kinase 6 (GRK6), toward Structure-Based Drug Design and Discovery for Multiple Myeloma

Petra Fromme, PhD, Paul V. Galvin Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Arizona State University

GRK6 is a kinase target in multiple myeloma and plays a significant role in mediating the chemotactic responses of T and B-lymphocytes. To support structure-based drug design, we describe expression and purification of three human GRK6 constructs in Sf9 insect cells. GRK6His/TEV was purified to high homogeneity and actively folded as exhibited by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The described methods will support the structure-based development of additional therapeutics against multiple myeloma.

4:45 pm

Expression, Purification, and Activation of Recombinant Matrix Metalloproteinase Enzymes in Bacteria

Maryam Raeeszadeh-Sarmazdeh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Graduate Program Director, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Nevada

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been the center of attention recently as targets to develop therapeutics that can treat diseases correlated to their overexpression. To study the MMP mechanism in solution, more facile and robust recombinant protein expression and purification methods are needed to produce active, soluble MMPs. A summary of recent methods used to overcome these challenges and improve the yields of soluble active MMPs will be discussed.

5:15 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Expression, Production, and Purification of Difficult-to-Express Proteins

PANEL MODERATOR:

Vincent Noireaux, PhD, Professor, Synthetic Biology and Biological Physics, University of Minnesota

PANELISTS:

Renato Bruni, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist, Center on Membrane Protein Production and Analysis, New York Structural Biology Center

Matthew Coleman, PhD, Senior Scientist & Group Leader, Biosciences and Biotechnology Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Petra Fromme, PhD, Paul V. Galvin Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Arizona State University

Maryam Raeeszadeh-Sarmazdeh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Graduate Program Director, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Nevada

Networking Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Indigo Ballroom)5:45 pm

WOMEN IN SCIENCE MEET UP AT PEPTALK PLAZA

6:50 pm

Women in Science Meet Up at PepTalk Plaza

Christa Cortesio, PhD, Senior Scientist and Group Lead, Protein Science, Protein Biochemistry & Analytics Core, Kite Pharma

Michelle R. Gaylord, MS, Principal Scientist, Protein Expression Lead, Velia, Inc.

The Women in Science Meet Up at the PepTalk is a networking and inspiring event tailored for female attendees. We invite the entire scientific community to discuss these barriers, as we believe that all voices are necessary and welcome. Please join fellow scientists and discuss your personal and professional journey.​

  • What do you struggle with most as a woman in science?
  • What are you proudest of?
  • As we return to a post-pandemic work-life environment, have there been any challenges or improvements that have impacted you?
  • Do you feel that we as a society have made good progress towards equal treatment of women and men in the workplace?
  • What can each of us do to improve things further?​

Close of Recombinant Protein Expression and Production7:00 pm