Abnova announced the introduction of a proprietary, label-free protein detection and quantification system, AbWare™, for the research market. This novel platform represents a breakthrough in the critical bottleneck in biomarker discovery and translational research. The advent of genomics and proteomics has catapulted a new era of large-scale and high throughput protein studies; however, they have also generated a plethora of potential protein markers awaiting quantitative and statistical correlation to disease and treatment. The lack of available antibodies and antibody pairs, which are the basic building blocks of “two-antibody” sandwich ELISA platform, severely limits the scope and number of proteins which can be analyzed quantitatively. Of the 30,000 genes in the human genome, only ten percent of total genes can be quantified on the protein level. This hindrance poses a serious challenge to the translation and development of new diagnostics and therapeutics in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.
Integration of Silicon Fabrication, Antibody Technology, and Electronics
Abnova’s AbWare™ system is an integration of micron-scale fabrication, antibody technology, and electronics. The heart of this new platform is a micro-electrode sensor (Genesis™) fabricated from the silicon wafer processes. A single capturing antibody serves as transducer in the microelectrode sensor environment converting the biological signal into an electrical signal proportional to the amount of analyte detected in the solution. This electrical signal is then converted into an impedance signal via a specially designed electronics and software. These components are all integrated under an automated system consisting of 16-plex microelectrode sensors, 3 axial robotics, 384 reaction wells, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) electronics, algorithms and user interface software. Abnova has successfully built the
AbWare™ instrument and showcased at the recent 2010 Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego, California USA in November. Abnova is now actively setting up a worldwide, sales and distribution network for AbWare™.
Simplicity, Sensitivity, and Scalability
AbWare™ amalgam of turn-key technologies simplifies the protein measurement by using a single capturing antibody to detect analyte while obviating the need for the detection antibody. In the conventional “two-antibody” sandwich ELISA platform, the capturing antibody specifically recognizes the protein analyte which is then detected by another antibody coupled to an optical amplification system. This is an inconvenient process requiring two different antibodies targeting distinct epitopes on the protein. The first generation AbWare™ micro-electrode sensor has a sensitivity which outcompetes the current label-free technologies including surface plasma resonance (SPR), diffractive optics, interferometry, and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) at 50-100ng/ml. With only a single capturing antibody, it competes effectively with the two antibodies, sandwich ELISA platform at 10ng/ml with colorimetric detection. It has good reproducibility and consistency which is an essential requirement for commercial deployment. AbWare™ also provides great scalability in product development and offering for a wide range of market segments. The first AbWare™ system is geared for the research market in the academic, institution, biotech, and pharmaceutical sectors without the need for FDA approval. The system can also be scaled-up to greater number of sample detection and higher throughput, especially for the pharmaceutical and hospital sectors, or scaled-down to a portable or handheld device for the point-of-care (POC) and over-the-counter (OTC) markets.
Proprietary Intellectual Properties
Abnova has applied a number of broad scope patents covering micro- & nano-electrode and system designs. These proprietary patents enable Abnova protect the market and prevent competitors from entering into a similar space. Moreover these patents provide Abnova greater flexibility to focus on the upstream process of design and integration, and downstream process of sales and marketing while outsourcing the manufacturing to the peripheral silicon and electronic industry with plentiful resources and high efficiency. Finally, the intellectual portfolio allows Abnova to establish partnerships with reagent, system, and in vitro diagnostic companies to develop a range of applications and products based on market segmentation.
What’s Next
AbWare™ next step lies in rapidly expanding the boundary of sensitivity and scalability. For a given antibody with an intrinsic binding affinity, detection sensitivity is related to electrode width, sensor circuit design, and reaction biochemistry. For example, by decreasing the width of the electrode while maintaining good yield and stability in electrode manufacturing, pg/ml sensitivity can be achieved. This is a rewarding task very much mirrors the development of microprocessor chips for the computer industry. With its first generation, 5um micro-electrode (Genesis™) in stable production, Abnova plans to introduce the 2um micro-electrode sensor in first quarter 2011. As the antibody size is of 10-20nm, nano-electrode fabrication has the opportunity not only to overcome such engineering challenge but also pave the path of single molecule detection with sub-pg/ml sensitivity. This will require adding newer technologies such as nano-lithography to the existing silicon fabrication processes. Research and development is already in the works. From the scalability point of view, Abnova will be producing larger, opened instruments for greater samples and throughput measurement, and miniaturized, closed device for application-specific measurement.
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About Abnova
Abnova is a biotech company specializing in high throughput protein expression and antibody production. The manufacturing infrastructure Abnova has developed is a unique combination of world-class technologies and management experience of the IT industry in Taiwan. The company has vastly expanded the scope and availability of bio-tool reagents by taking a genome-wide approach to the production of human recombinant protein and antibody. In addition, it has developed a portfolio of integrated and system applications including antibody pairs, ELISA kits, high content screening assays, and label-free protein quantification system which are essential to the biomarker discovery and translational research industries. (
www.abnova.com)
