The intellectual merit of the proposed project is to develop a fundamental understanding of the relationships between gene and protein sequence and expression level of recombinant monoclonal antibodies by: * Creating a library of sequence variants for a recombinant therapeutic monoclonal antibody * Expressing these variants in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells * Analyzing the mRNA levels and intra- and extra-cellular antibody levels and correlating the expression with gene and protein sequence * Comparing the results of this study with previous studies of other antibodies performed by UCB Celltech (Slough, UK) to determine whether always controlled by protein stability or if other mechanisms also play a role.
The broader impacts of the proposed work are to: * Provide a unique educational experience for a female doctoral student in Chemical Engineering, combining an industrial internship and an international experience that can serve as a model for international experiences for domestic graduate students * Provide critical knowledge to the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry in the United States * Develop an ongoing relationship between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and UCB that will play an important role in an invited IGERT proposal in molecular bioprocessing
