Monoclonal Antibody Purification/Production and Characterization

Trastuzumab antibody fragments separation using microfluidic free flow electrophoresis

As the medical sciences advanced in the field of disease diagnosis and therapeutic agents, the targeted and specific use of drugs and biomaterials increased. Breast cancer (caused by malfunction of HER2 Human Growth factor receptor) is one of the most widespread cancers between females. In recent years, specific HER2 receptor antibodies (trastuzumab) were used for preventing cancer metastasis and cancer treatment. It has shown that antibody fragments are more specific therapeutic agents than intact antibody because fragments are smaller than whole antibody molecule, thus, fragments can migrate to the target tissue more efficiently. After digestion of antibody into its fragments (Fc, Fab / F(ab)2) by chemical digestion methods, chromatography methods are commonly used to separate fragments from each other. The chromatography methods are discrete and expensive methods due to the separation columns used for separation. 

Microfluidic separation techniques can decrease cost and time of separation by eliminating columns as separation medium and using microfluidic flow properties and electrical field force. In this project, we will propose a novel microfluidic method based on free flow electrophoresis (FFE) for antibody fragment separation. 

eparation of particles in nanoscale using microfluidic is one the most important challenges in this study and the resultant process shall increase the performance and speed of separation.

Keywords: Antibody, Antibody Digestion, Antibody fragment separation, Microfluidic, Free Flow Electrophoresis