Pfizer and Berkeley Lights (BLI), an Emeryville, California-headquartered company developing platforms for biopharmaceutical processes, have signed an agreement to accelerate Pfizer’s monoclonal antibody (mAb) discovery and gene-editing workflows by using BLI’s proprietary Beacon Optofluidic platform for cell-line development.

Under the collaboration, the companies will combine BLI’s platform, which uses a light-based, nano-fluidic method to select, characterize, culture, and export single cells, with Pfizer’s experience in gene editing, sequencing, and molecular biology, as well as B-cell screening.

BLI says the Beacon platform is capable of screening thousands of plasma B-cells or gene-edited cells in an automated fashion. Cell characterizations are performed through a variety of serial or multiplex fluorescence assays to determine antigen-specific binding to membrane-bound targets on live cells, relative affinity, and functional response with reporter cells. Individual cells with the desired characteristics are selected and exported for genomic profiling or further manipulation.

Source: Berkeley Lights