Tracking Proteins

Understanding the cellular basis of disease is one of the revolutionary developments in neurological research. Today it is understood that schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, MS, ALS and many others are not diseases of the mind or brain, but of the cells that underlie all brain functions.

Many MNI investigators are focused on researching disease processes at the level of cells and disease-causing proteins. A fundamental challenge they face is identifying specific proteins out of the hundreds of thousands of proteins estimated to be present in the various cells of the human body.

The most efficient way to detect specific proteins is through the use of antibodies, a primary tool of the body’s immune system. Antibodies are incredibly specific in identifying and attacking any foreign or unwelcome protein.

Antibodies can be designed to target a specific protein. However, they are difficult and costly to produce and have a high failure rate, all of which has led to development of a large retail trade.

At the MNI, Dr. Peter McPherson’s lab has been creating antibodies for some time. Frustrated by the difficulties inherent in standard approaches, McPherson and a colleague brainstormed a novel process by combining elements of proven procedures, creating a hybrid, which showed itself to be significantly faster, simpler and a fraction of the cost.

“We were spending over $20,000 a year on commercial antibodies for our own research,” says McPherson. “Our hybrid discovery makes it viable and much, much cheaper to do it in-house.”

With CECR funding, McPherson set up a separately staffed “Antibody Core” within his own lab. The facility produces custom antibodies for investigators at the MNI and, recently, for others in the McGill health community.

“If we just stopped here, the CECR funding would have created a profitable enterprise that will be self-sustaining for the foreseeable future,” says McPherson. “But, in fact, our antibody production and commercialization model has very high potential.”

That’s because whereas McPherson’s procedure greatly simplifies antibody production, the validation of the antibodies remains difficult because of the need for the right biological testing environment. Since the McPherson lab is producing custom antibodies for colleagues, the work of these investigators becomes the validation of the product. The solution was to make the commercialization process a shared one.

“For each antibody, we sign a Report of Invention which shares inventorship between the centre and the investigator,” says McPherson. “We can build up a big catalog this way.” Commercialization in terms of marketing and distribution is handled by an outside firm.