New platform integrates yeast-based synthetic biology and robotics to streamline antibody discovery, ‘eliminating lengthy steps and significantly reducing costs’ compared to traditional outsourcing
Opentrons Labworks, a lab automation company with more than 10,000 robotic systems deployed, and Neochromosome, its subsidiary specializing in products unlocked through genome-scale cell engineering, have unveiled the Opentrons Flex neoSwitch Workstation powered by the Neochromosome neoSwitch platform for in-house antibody discovery.
The Workstation enables labs to automate critical steps of the neoSwitch antibody discovery workflow, including high throughput purification of binders for rapid characterization.
By combining the ease-of-use of the Flex workstation with the turnkey neoSwitch platform, it is now straightforward to onboard yeast-based antibody discovery and unlock cost and time savings up to ten-fold relative to conventional outsourcing.
The Opentrons Flex neoSwitch Workstation leverages Neochromosome’s neoSwitch antibody discovery platform, designed to toggle between yeast surface display for binder selection and protein secretion for downstream evaluation of hits.
This integration eliminates traditionally labor-intensive and time-consuming subcloning and protein-expression steps, significantly reducing overall process timelines. By pairing neoSwitch with the Opentrons Flex, labs can automate multiple aspects of the antibody discovery process.
Most notably, when individual clones are grown in secretion mode, labs are able to purify binders from culture supernatant in multi-well plates in a complete walkaway fashion using the optimized protocols that come pre-loaded on the workstation.
Purified binders can then be used directly in stability and binding affinity measurements. Other automation-friendly steps include protein quantification and genotype identification in each clone via colony PCR and library preparation for sequencing.
Rachel Rennard, SVP research at stereo biotherapeutics, says: “As a team that’s been working with the neoSwitch platform from its early days, we’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is to toggle seamlessly between display and secretion for antibodies or other types of scaffolds.
“Moving this capability onto the Opentrons Flex is exactly the kind of evolution we were hoping for—it will allow us to internalize and scale our discovery pipelines with ease.
“Automating the hard parts of the process means faster results, better throughput, and fewer bottlenecks. It’s the kind of platform upgrade that actually changes how you work.”
With neoSwitch, labs can access ready-to-use, high-diversity antibody libraries built by Neochromosome. Alternatively, labs can leverage Neochromosome’s Custom DNA Library Services to access custom libraries.
neoSwitch is delivered pre-transformed with the selected library, enabling turnkey in-house discovery campaigns.
neoSwitch provides labs interested in building out in-house antibody discovery with a “ready-to-use” yeast-based platform with best-in-class features pairing display and secretion and affordable automation to scale throughput.
Opentrons automation specifically addresses repetitive and error-prone manual tasks like liquid handling, incubation timing, and media changes, which typically require extensive manual oversight and introduce variability in outcomes.
By automating these critical but laborious processes in antibody discovery, labs can enhance reproducibility, increase the volume of antibody candidates screened, and refocus staff on strategic decisions and complex analysis rather than routine procedures.
Consequently, labs can more rapidly identify promising antibody candidates, accelerate therapeutic development timelines, and more effectively manage resource allocation.
The introduction of neoSwitch on the Opentrons Flex marks an initial step in exploring the Opentrons Flex’s broader capabilities for automating Neochromosome’s assays in development and establishes a foundation for expanding the range of synthetic biology assays on the Opentrons platform.
Leslie Mitchell, CEO of Neochromosome, says: “Traditionally, establishing internal antibody discovery meant making a time-consuming investment in building in-house capabilities, limiting most institutions from performing these workflows independently.
“With neoSwitch paired with the Opentrons Flex Workstation, labs can bypass significant barriers. They now have a practical, cost-effective means to rapidly internalize and scale antibody discovery capabilities, gaining full strategic control of their research and development pipelines.”
James Atwood, COO of Opentrons, says: “Labs today need solutions that reduce reliance on CROs, whose processes can be slow, opaque, and costly.
“By providing full transparency and control over antibody discovery workflows, we enable labs to quickly adapt their strategies based on immediate data, significantly improving efficiency and lowering costs.”
As an example, the Opentrons Flex neoSwitch Workstation was used as part of a discovery campaign to identify CD5 binders. CD5 is an important target in immune and cancer drug discovery due to its role in regulating T-cell activation and its potential as a checkpoint inhibitor.
Ninety anti-CD5 antibody candidates were first identified from Neochromosome’s ready-to-use, high-diversity antibody library, neoVHH, and ranked by relative binding strength. The top 12 binding candidates were immediately switched into secretion mode and purified for downstream validation assays.
In just under four days, the workflow progressed from initial antibody screening to purified, secreted protein of high-quality antibody hits using the new system.
By automating the traditionally labor-intensive steps of antibody discovery, this case study shows how labs can move from screening to lead candidate in just a few days.
