1 June 2020 - - US-based synthetic biology and genomics company Twist Bioscience Corp. (NASDAQ: TWST) will join an international alliance led by Singapore-based biomedical company Proteona to develop neutralising antibody therapy against COVID-19 for vulnerable immunocompromised patients, Proteona said.

Utilising the highly parallel silicon-based DNA synthesis platform, Twist has the ability to manufacture ms of oligos of different lengths with industry leading accuracy.

This core capability enables Twist Biopharma, a division of Twist Bioscience, to identify numerous neutralising antibody sequences and use in house capability to generate and optimize IgG antibodies ready for analysis.

The international alliance was initiated by Proteona in response to the urgent need of patients most at risk facing the pandemic, such as those with blood cancers. Due to preexisting conditions, these patients have a higher risk of complications from infections.

They may not respond well to vaccination once available because of their compromised immune system. The alliance aims to develop antibody therapies to provide a safe and targeted treatment for these vulnerable populations.

Proteona, who is leading the alliance, continues to conduct screening for potential candidate antibodies. Using its single cell proteogenomics technology which enables the simultaneous screening of antibodies targeting multiple viral variants, Proteona is analyzing blood samples from recovered COVID-19 patients, and screening for B cells that produce neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

10x Genomics and NovogeneAIT are providing enabling technologies for single cell analysis and sequencing respectively.

The clinical partners at the Heidelberg University Hospital, the German Cancer Research Center, and the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen are assisting in sample collection and coordination, and provide first-hand clinical insight.

Twist will synthesise and express the antibody sequences as functional antibodies, which can then be tested by collaborators in animal and cell studies for safety and efficacy.

Proteona Pte. Ltd. is a biomedical company located in Singapore, Germany, and the US that is pioneering the use of single cell proteogenomics to improve clinical outcomes in cancer.

Using a combination of innovative single cell assays and AI-assisted bioinformatics, Proteona provides a comprehensive sample to answer service that enables users to phenotype cells using standard protein markers and gain a deeper understanding of cell activity based upon their gene expression profiles.

Proteona is a spin-off from the National University of Singapore and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR). Proteona is leading an international alliance to develop neutralizing antibodies against coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2.

In addition, Proteona supports partners developing COVID-19 therapies and vaccines by providing single cell immune profiling services. 

By leveraging our unique ability to manufacture DNA at scale, we can construct proprietary antibody libraries precisely designed to match sequences that occur in the human body. This library of libraries gives our partners an integral and unbiased resource for antibody therapeutic discovery and optimisation.

This precise and rational approach to library fabrication combined with sophisticated bioinformatics and software expertise expedites antibody discovery by decreasing risk, increasing speed, and lowering the failure rate for antibody therapeutic development.

Twist Bioscience is a synthetic biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology.

The core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by "writing" DNA on a silicon chip.

Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development.

Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes products for use across many industries including diagnostics, therapeutics, industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.