Roushu Zhang PhD, Scientist, Institute for Protein Innovation, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
Roushu Zhang PhD, Scientist, Institute for Protein InnovationRoushu Zhang, scientist at the Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI), earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. At IPI, she leads the antibody production team. Since joining, Zhang has developed several automated assays using liquid handlers to facilitate antibody production and characterization. Zhang is especially interested in new techniques for antibody engineering and developing antibody conjugates.
Monoclonal antibodies are critical to diagnose and treat diseases and enable precise, illuminating biomedical research. While therapeutic antibodies are stringently validated, reagent antibodies typically are not tested to the same degree, leading to significant issues with quality, performance, and reproducibility. The Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI) is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to creating and distributing high-quality and well-characterized synthetic antibodies against cell membrane receptors and secreted proteins to accelerate research. Our antibody platform is centered on a yeast display library, which IPI scientists use to sort for target-specific synthetic antibodies. We introduced variation in the CDR3 region of the heavy chains and achieved overall library diversity on par with a human B cell repertoire. From NGS analysis of binding candidates, IPI scientists then use a series of high-throughput methodologies to produce and characterize antibodies. Specifically, we utilize ValitaTITER to quantify antibody productivity; LC-MS to confirm antibody identity; BLI and SPR to characterize antigen-specific affinity; SEC and DSC to assess antibody stability; and ELISA assay to evaluate antibody polyreactivity. With all these developments, we aim to discover antibodies that fit in broad applications in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro. We have successfully identified and characterized high-affinity binders for multiple targets, and we are actively sharing our antibodies with biomedical researchers studying high-demand targets.
