Leonor Kremer
Lead scientist
Service Description
The Protein Tools Unit focuses on production and characterisation of custom monoclonal antibodies, immune response studies, design and development of immunoassays, protein labelling and molecular interaction analysis. The Unit is a founder member of the EuroMAbNet, the first European non-profit organisation of multidisciplinary academic laboratories specialised in mAb production, which provides researchers working in the field with a framework for exchange of knowledge, methods and materials.
Research tools and services are provided to scientists from the CNB, other CSIC institutes, universities, public research organisations and private companies. The laboratory offers expertise, technical assistance, advices with data analysis and interpretation, user training and introduction of new methods. The core facility also organises theoretical and practical courses and assists with preparation of manuscripts and oral presentations.
The facility is equipped with a surface plasmon resonance biosensor (Biacore 3000), which allows sensitive, reliable characterisation of biomolecular interactions and provides information such as kinetics and thermodynamic parameters of the binding events. The biosensor has been used for applications such as protein-protein interaction (a bacterial toxin-antitoxin system), antibody-antigen (monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, trimerbodies), dsRNA-protein (VP3-RNA), lipid-protein (FAK-liposomes) and small molecule-protein (DREAM).
In this period, new monoclonal antibodies were raised and characterised against viral proteins (SARS-E, gp120), immunoglobulins (canine IgE), blood proteins (coagulation Factor V, CD5L), neurodegenerative disease-related proteins (DREAM, TAU, beta amyloid peptides), centrosomal proteins (CAP350), mitochondrial proteins (SCAM3), and chemokine receptors (CCR9).
Specialised equipment:
- ÄKTAprime plus chromatography system (GE Healthcare)
- SPR Biacore 3000 (GE Healthcare)
- EnVision 2104 Multilabel Reader (Perkin Elmer)
- Other equipment: biological safety cabinets, CO2 incubators, centrifuges, microfuges, inverted fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axiovert 40 CFL), thermal cycler, microplate reader, protein gel electrophoresis systems, Western blot systems and electrophoresis power supply units
Fees and others