With the view that monoclonal antibodies are among the more important biochemicals of commercial value, the objective of the proposed research is to understand the basic biological phenomena of antibody synthesis, and to apply the results to the improvement of bioreactor operating strategies. This project is focused on the probable cell cycle dependency of monoclonal antibody production, and will utilize flow cytometry with bromodeoxyuridine labeling to measure cell cycle parameters, and molecular biology techniques to probe transcriptional and post transcriptional regulation of antibody synthesis. Data are to be incorporated into mathematical models which use cell cycle dependent kinetics. The results should provide a mechanistic explanation of the experimental data, and should lead to a better understanding and improved production of monoclonal antibodies.
