Graduation Year

2018

Date of Submission

12-2017

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Biology

Reader 1

Yu (Eunice) Zhou

Reader 2

Patrick Ferree

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2017 Daniel Y. Cui

Abstract

Within the immune system, Y-shaped proteins known as antibodies play crucial roles in detecting and blocking the harmful effects of foreign pathogens. Antibodies are naturally synthesized in our bodies by plasma B-cells, but they can also be synthesized and manufactured in labs through methods of recombinant antibody technology. Today, the field of antibody research and development is a competitive area of study due to the great promise it carries. In this study, 4 clones were developed as phage linked and soluble scFv proteins in order to be tested for their specificity against an RTK antigen, T1. T1 was of interest due to its hypothesized involvement in a breast cancer causing pathway. Subsequent selection assays in the form of ELISA and Western Blot were performed in order to identify a promising antibody candidate both robust in expression and specific in binding. The ELISA results pointed to Clone A1 as having the greatest potency and specificity for the T1 target antigen when it was presented as a phage linked and soluble scFv protein. Evaluation of the expression profiles for the 4 soluble and phage linked clones also pointed to clone A1 as being the most robust and potent. In conclusion, clone A1 exhibited the greatest ability in expression and detection of the T1 antigen and was thereby determined to be the most promising candidate in further development and optimization procedures. A1’s results in the preliminary tests also suggests strong performance in its translation into a successful therapeutic drug.

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