Celebrating 30 years of Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

Transcription

1 Celebrating 30 years of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Professor Vijay K. Chaudhary Dr. Amita Gupta Department of Biochemistry University of Delhi South Campus New Delhi

2 Swachhta (Cleanliness) is the key to Swasthya (Good Health) This applies most appropriately for infectious diseases! 2

3 In Pre-antibiotic / pre-vaccine era, disease control resulted from improvements in sanitation and hygiene [MMWR, 1999, 48(29) 621] In the USA, with the advent of antibiotics, vaccines and implementation of control programs in the beginning of the 20 th century, the leading causes of death namely Pneumonia / Diphtheria and Tuberculosis are now minor causes, with the Heart diseases and Cancer taking position at the top. In India, these measures have met with variable success and disease burden due to infection continues to be high with chronic diseases also on a rise. Keeping our surroundings Swachh (clean), is likely to reduce the disease burden and increase effectiveness of the control measures. Efforts for Swachhta must continue! 3

4 Scientists for Swasth Bharat We have to make concerted efforts towards developing costeffective Vaccines, Drugs and Diagnostics for masses in India. DBT has facilitated this endeavor through funding across the length and breadth of our country to individual scientists and institutions for creating Infrastructure and performing research in life sciences. 4

5 UDSC Through DBT s support, our group at the University of Delhi South Campus has worked towards generating reagents and tools for developing point-of-care diagnostic formats for infectious diseases including HIV (AIDS), Typhoid, Tuberculosis, Chikungunya etc. We have also succeeded in developing and transferring technologies to the Industry for commercialization. 5

6 UDSC We work to develop protein-based diagnostic assays which are rapid (Point-of-Care) and do not require elaborate sample processing. To achieve this goal, high-quality recombinant antigens and highaffinity antibodies are the key requirements. In the journey towards developing appropriate reagents, a variety of new technologies have been developed. Most of our research in the last 25 years has been funded by DBT. 6

7 Monoclonal Antibodies against Bacteriophage M13 The technology for Monoclonal Antibodies (MAbs) against two coat proteins giiip and gviiip of filamentous phage M13 and a process for their preparation was licensed to Pharmacia Biotech. Inc., USA, presently GE Healthcare Life Sciences who manufacture and market under product code and This project was supported by DBT and the transfer of technology happened in This fetched $20,000 as the one-time licensing fee and was perhaps the first technology transfer through DBT-supported project and one of the earliest Indian patents granted for a Biotech Product! The following publications and patent have backed this work: Bhardwaj D, Singh SS, Abrol S, Chaudhary VK. Monoclonal antibodies against a minor and the major coat proteins of filamentous phage M13: their application in phage display. J Immunol Methods Feb 27;179(2): Indian Patent , (1996) "A process for preparing monoclonal antibodies against giiip and gviiip of filamentous phage M13 7

8 NEVA HIV - A test for on-site detection of HIV The following publications and patent have backed this work. This test detects antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 in two minutes using a drop of blood. The test requires no instrument, electricity, not even water from outside, and can be performed by a semiskilled technician in any primary health centre. This novel technology was introduced to the Nation by Hon ble Vice President of India, on the occasion of the National Technology Day, the 11 th May, NEVA HIV is a totally indigenous technology and was transferred to Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited, Ahmedabad. Gupta A, Chaudhary VK. Whole-blood agglutination assay for on-site detection of human immunodeficiency virus infection. J Clin Microbiol Jul;41(7): Gupta A, Chaudhary VK. Expression, purification, and characterization of an anti-rbcfab-p24 fusion protein for hemagglutination-based rapid detection of antibodies to HIV in whole blood. Protein Expr Purif Oct; 26(1): Gupta A, Gupta S, Chaudhary VK. Recombinant fusion proteins for haemagglutination-based rapid detection of antibodies to HIV in whole blood. J Immunol Methods Oct 1; 256(1-2): Indian Patent granted on 20.05/2005, "A process for preparing a proteins, used for detection of HIV antibodies"

9 TB Confirm - A Rapid Visual Test for detection of Tuberculosis causing bacteria in culture This Immuno-chromatographic test allows for easy and rapid screening of specimen for confirmation of growth of tuberculosis causing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). This test can be performed with minimal training and provides results in less than twenty minutes. The test is based on detection of two Mtbspecific antigens using high affinity monoclonal antibodies. It has been evaluated on clinical specimens grown in liquid medium and LJ slant with near 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Manufactured by M/s Span Diagnostics Ltd, Surat using technology developed by University of Delhi South Campus under a DBT - funded program. Evaluated at laboratories of Dr Sarman Singh (AIIMS, New Delhi) and Dr. Camila Rodrigues (P.D.Hinduja 9 Hospital, Mumbai).

10 Recombinant Antibody UDSC We have created an ultra-large phage-displayed human naïve antibody library of 10 billion clones and successfully isolated specific binders to numerous proteins of mycobacterial origin as well as a human protein (funding from CSIR-NMITLI). This library construction was successful due to our unique restrictionenzyme free cloning technology coupled with proprietary splicing-pcr and other DNA manipulation techniques, which have IPR value. These techniques will be very useful for the creation of large immunized libraries to produce neutralizing antibodies, such as, human anti-rabies and anti-tetanus antibodies for passive immunization. Our library is highly diverse and we have isolated exclusive binders to similar proteins differing by a few amino acids. This UDSC phage-displayed human scfv library could be very useful for many antibody-related projects across India, and is a true Made in India product! 10

11 Recombinant Proteins & Monoclonal Antibodies UDSC Poly His Tag (H6/10) Phage M13 coat proteins, giiip and gviiip Phage Lambda coat protein D, V and E Glutathione-S-transferase Beta-Lactamase (2 MAbs) HIV-gp41 (Two MAbs) HIV-gp36 (One MAb) HIV-p24 (Ten MAbs, pairs identified with ELISA detection of ~50 pg/ ml) SARSV N protein, S protein (5 MAbs each, pairs identified) CHIKV E1 (4 MAbs, epitope mapped) CHIKV E2 (10 MAbs, epitope mapped, pairs identification in progress) Anti-human RBC (2 Mabs) Mtb Ag85A, Ag85B (10 MAbs, pairs identified with ELISA detection of ~50 pg/ ml) Mtb 38 kda Ag (3 MAbs) Mtb 81 kda Ag (5 MAbs) Mtb MTC 28 (5 MAbs) Mtb, 19 kda Ag (5 MAbs pairs with ELISA detection of ~50 pg/ ml) Mtb, MPT64 (4 MAbs, pairs identified with ELISA detection of ~50 pg/ ml) Mtb alpha-crystallin Mtb CFP 32 (5 MAbs) MAbs reactive to Ag85 of M. avium, M. intracellularae (5 MAbs pairs identified with ELISA detection of ~50 pg/ml) Dozens of recombinant proteins are also available, with technology to produce Tag-less proteins, site-specific biotinylated proteins etc. 11

12 The way forward - to Detect and Cure: High affinity antibodies (KD >10-10 M) by using recombinant route, including new hosts for monoclonal antibodies such as rabbit ( times higher affinity than mouse antibodies) for ultra-sensitive detection of antigens released by infectious organisms. Such research will benefit detection of infections including, Chikungunya, Dengue, Zika, Malaria, HIV etc. Therapeutic neutralizing antibodies to benefit passive immunization such as for Rabies and many other infections, including replacement of Horse anti-snake venom sera etc. Empower through Skill Enhancement programme in Biotechnology University of Delhi Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease Research, Education and Training (CIIDRET) 12

13 Our Journey has been equally rewarding.! Over the last 25 years, our efforts nurtured with the support from DBT have been acknowledged and appropriately rewarded Visitor s Award For Innovation in 2015 for development of TB Confirm, A rapid diagnostic test for TB Biotech Product And Process Development and Commercialization Award (DBT) in 2014 for development of TB Confirm, A rapid diagnostic test for TB Awards for developing NEVA HIV test, a DBT-funded programme: Biotech Product and Process Development and Commercialization Award 2002 by DBT World Intellectual Property Organization Geneva Gold medal, 2004 NRDC (DSIR, Govt. of India) INNOVATION award,

14 We thank everyone at DBT and other funding organizations for their generous support to facilitate our research We thank everyone at UDSC and collaborators in Institutions & Industry for contributing in our efforts in generating reagents and tests for diagnosis of infectious diseases 14