MapEng™ A Powerful, New Tool in the Engineering of Biobetter Therapeutics

Genetic analysis of point mutations is a valuable tool in elucidating protein structure/function relationships. We have designed and implemented a new analytical platform based on efficient gene synthesis and high throughput DNA sequencing to generate and analyze in parallel the effects of many hundreds of point mutations on protein binding. Our MapEng™ protein analysis platform guides the design of biobetter molecules with a variety of improvements, including enhanced affinity, reduced immunogenicity, modified cross reactivity and pH sensitivity. We have used this system to assess the effects on affinity of all possible point mutations in and around heavy chain CDR3 of Avastin. Up, down and neutral mutations with respect to binding were discovered or confirmed published results. These results demonstrate the utility of MapEng™ for creating biobetter therapeutics