Protein targets for small molecule drug discovery efforts are becoming increasingly more challenging. In addition, novel lead ID approaches and modalities are being utilized in order to address these challenges. Flexible and agile protein production workflows must be deployed in order to meet these project demands, as will be highlighted in this presentation.

The Jackson Laboratory pioneered the use of mice as models for human disease. Today, it discovers precise genomic solutions for human diseases. JAX Protein Production and Purification Service enables the faculty to advance newly identified genes to the proteins they encode. While producing proteins, the service focuses on educating the geneticists about proteins. It strives to provide high-quality services while understanding the limits determined by being a small service. 

The Eukaryotic Expression Platform is a core infrastructure platform at SGC, utilizing an optimized pipeline for the production of recombinant proteins that require eukaryotic expression machinery to obtain sufficient quantities of active and stable proteins suitable for functional and structural studies. This platform also permits the identification of the soluble forms of multiple constructs of proteins, including domains and truncated fragments as well as full-length proteins through small-scale expression screening.

The National Biologics Facility at the Technical University of Denmark offers service to both academic and industrial partners within protein production, protein characterization, and cell line development. The Facility offers the advantages of a flexible and dynamic cutting-edge academic environment operating at industrial standards. The challenges of prioritizing expectations, timelines and costs with academic and industrial customers, while keeping motivation and academic mindset of the staff will be discussed.

Research and development of next-generation cell therapies are aimed at engineering safer, more potent, and effective therapies and broadening the range of indications they can target. This goal will be best achieved through a multidisciplinary approach that includes high-quality reagent proteins and biochemistry support to accelerate the acquisition of high-quality scientific data to understand drug attributes and mechanisms of action.

Kanban was originally developed for automobile manufacturing and is now used along with Kanban boards for project management in a variety of areas including most notably software development. Software tools are available including Trello for Kanban board management making project management across teams and locations possible. The focus of this talk will be how to employ Kanban boards to improve workflows.

Generating high-quality, reproducible recombinant proteins is a significant challenge facing the protein production field. The FNL STAR TREC initiative aims to assist in standardization of protein production SOPs and quality control, with the goal of helping to improve reproducibility and minimize financial costs and time wasted in support of basic research and early-stage drug discovery efforts. We will explore ways in which STAR TREC can guide researchers to improve protein quality and ensure consistency across laboratories and experiments.

The Baculovirus expression system is a powerful and widely used methodology to generate large quantities of recombinant protein. However, resource challenges exist with the system; these include time and effort to generate, screen, and store large numbers of viruses. We have developed a streamlined process to QC new viral constructs by incorporating; 1.) Off-the-shelf automation platforms 2.) Screening miniaturization techniques and 3.) Data management platforms. This workflow accelerates viral generation through an improved screening funnel and reduces the total number of viral samples that need to be managed thereby making handling and storage more efficient.

Join a Think Tank discussion group to share and experience and hear what others have learned.
1) Workflow vs technology development?
2) Scale-up, when and how to go from research to manufacturing?
3) Doing more with less – how do you test new methods and workflows without blowing up your annual budget?
4) Keeping staff motivated and engaged?

Protein production is more complex than just the act of expressing the protein. This presentation will review the end-to-end protein production workflow process and reflect on possibilities of how to increase the efficiency and productivity of a recombinant protein expression facility.

X-ray free electron lasers probe protein structures with ultrashort x-ray pulses thereby enabling the determination of molecular movies of molecules “at work," but large quantities of proteins in the range of hundreds of milligrams are required. We will present strategies and procedures for large-scale cell culture and protein isolation for XFEL studies that include preparation of large photosynthetic membrane protein complexes, as well as preparation of proteins from SARS-CoV-2. 

High-throughput protein production relies on affinity tags to enable purification of new targets, where tags are often left in place during initial target characterization. The production of tagless targets is now possible via a self-removing tag that functions in simple buffer systems. We will describe the use of this system to purify a variety of targets to extremely high purity with a standard protocol on a universal affinity resin.

As biologic therapeutics continue to increase in complexity, innovative approaches to candidate screening, production, characterization, and development are more important than ever. Our advanced protein production workflows incorporate novel processes, intelligent high-throughput automation, and high-quality informatics to enable robust molecule screening, selection, and scale-up. These enhancements enable advances in the speed, quality, and productivity of our biologics development pipeline.

Drug Discovery landscape is ever evolving and constantly demands revolutionary advancements in protein expression and production core laboratories. This presentation will focus on the evolution of our end-to-end automated high-throughput protein expression, purification workflows, and building creative solutions to support ever-increasing demands in today's world. It will emphasize the importance of collaboration and integration between different sub-groups including molecular biology, automation, and bioinformatics to provide more efficient processes. These multi-facet approaches have significantly alleviated some of the bottlenecks in protein production and accelerates the provision of key protein reagents to ambitious projects, particularly for challenging and undruggable targets.

Join a Think Tank discussion group to share and experience and hear what others have learned.
1) Workflow vs technology development?
2) What might address the future and what is needed?
3) Issues and challenges with end-to-end protein production?
4) Tearing down silos – how do you foster cross-functional collaborations to innovate and improve
5) Takeaways from PepTalk: The Protein Science and Production Week?