Cell Culture and Monoclonal Development Services

The ability to isolate and expand cells ex vivo in culture has changed the way that almost all drugs and vaccines are developed and tested. With the rise of personalized medicine and cellular therapeutics, there has been a rapid expansion of cell culture technologies supporting these novel initiatives.

Cell Culture Services

FlowMetric offers guaranteed high viability cell culture services for a range of cell types including:

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Human and Mammalian Primary Cells

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Tumor Cells

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Stem Cells

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Human and Mammalian Cell Lines

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Insect Cells

Using established flow cytometry panels, these cell types are phenotypically and functionally characterized at any stage of development.

Additional Sterility-, Mycoplasma-, Endotoxin- and Viral Testing is available.

All data associated with each stage of cell culture development is provided in an auditable report.

Cell Bank Production

Critical to the use of cell cultures for research or biological production is the preparation of both master and working cell stocks. The master cell bank (MSB) is established from a single clone, that is expanded in culture to form the MSB. It is recommended that this is highly characterized and tested for sterility, viability, and contamination (bacteria, fungi, and mycoplasma).

Working cell banks (WCB) are prepared from an aliquot of the MCB under defined culture conditions to target the specification of cell density (cells per milliliter) and passage number. We recommend QC testing of viability and sterility before freezing down.

All cell banks are stored in vapor-phase liquid nitrogen within controlled access areas. FlowMetric offers storage across multiple, performance qualified and temperature monitored Dewars if needed, and all shipments of cell bank materials use vapor-phase liquid nitrogen, qualified Dewars with constant temperature tracking.

Cell stock preparation and storage are also provided for specific cell or tissue types, either through tissue dissociation, cell enrichment protocols, or cell sorting. Examples include peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs), pluripotent stem cells, Tregs, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs).

Batch Cell Isolation

For some research applications, batches of specific cell populations are required. Examples include:

cells expressing a common biomarker/markers

cells at a specific stage of development

post-treatment target populations

FlowMetric has established several standard protocols to employ cell sorting or magnetic bead separation for the enrichment of a variety of cell populations for activation &/or expansion in culture. These enriched preparations allow for more robust signaling within your experiments and reduced background.

Single-Cell Isolation

Single-Cell Sorting can be applied to generate clonal populations or for downstream Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) or RNAseq analysis.

Monoclonal Antibody Production and Development

FlowMetric offers a range of customized services for the generation, screening, and expansion of hybridomas cells in culture for the production and purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). FlowMetric supports a full array of functional and binding assays to characterize mAbs binding and functional activities.

Workflow Options

Culture and isolation of hybridomas

FlowMetric has robust, standardized protocols for the production and maintenance of hybridomas for the generation of mAbs.

B cell enrichment

Pre-fusion enrichment or pre-fusion B-cell sorting options are available to maximize the efficiency of hybridoma development.

Multiplexed Assays

Flow cytometry provides a variety of platforms to characterize mAbs binding, quantify antibody potential on various cell types.

Class confirmation and Cross Selection

Confirmation of antibody class and specific selectivity assessment.

Competition Assays

Different assay platforms require different antibody pairings, epitope mapping, or epitope binding screens. FlowMetric offers these to identify optimum antibody pairs, competitive and non-competitive, for these different applications.

Functional Assays

Although antibodies generally work through a similar mechanism, for the purpose of developing therapeutic antibodies the mechanism is very specific. A variety of antibody Mechanism of Action (MoA) assay formats are offered at FlowMetric. These functional assays are critical for progression through clinical trials.

Antibody-dependent Toxicity Assays

Antibody-dependent toxicity is at the heart of many antibody therapeutics. Assays such as ADCC, ADCP, and CDC demonstrate the specific functionality of each lead mAb, enabling them to be analyzed and prioritized for efficacy.

Epitope Mapping

The mapping of the binding site defines the antibody to cell connection; this is coupled with the experimental/functional data to develop a comprehensive understanding of the MoA of the therapeutic. Such information is required for regulatory filings and intellectual property claims.

Uniquely, FlowMetric offers a complete cell culture service offering:

01customized cell isolation

02ex vivo cell culture and expansion

03cellular phenotypic and functional characterization

04cell banking

05mAb development/scale-up

06functional assay development

These services can be applied to advance your cellular and biological therapeutics and support clinical applications for safety and efficacy profiling. Contact us to discuss your customized cell service requirements.

Reliability

Our team has over 20 years experience in cell line development and optimized cell culture techniques including the expansion of insect cell cultures.

Quality

Our team will provide viability determination of all expanded cultures, pre- and post-thaw cell banks, pre-and post-stimulation for functional assays.