Скачать или смотреть Dr. Paul Kelly: Making better biopharmaceuticals

The 21st century saw one of the biggest biological breakthroughs of the last 100 years, the release of the human genome sequence at the cost of €3 billion using Sanger sequencing. However, next-generation sequencing technologies can now sequence an entire genome for as little as $1,000 making this technology more accessible to the research community.

The Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell is the primary cell line used in the Biopharmaceutical industry for the production of therapeutic proteins. These life-saving drugs treat various illnesses such as Enbrel™ for Rheumatoid arthritis or Herceptin™ for breast cancer.

For the first time ever, our group have sequenced the mitochondrial genome of a variety of CHO cell lines used in industry as a means to explore any genetic mutations which could lead to a more desirable production cell line. The Mitochondrion is a small structure inside the cell that provides all the energy the cell needs from its primary carbon source, glucose. The mitochondria arose from a bacterial symbiotic relationship with our cells ~2 billion years ago. As a result, the mitochondria in our cells carry their own unique DNA separate from the human (and CHO) genomes. Efficient production of cellular energy has been shown to be linked to both disease in humans and enhanced drug production by CHO cells.

By uncovering the genomic landscape of these drug-producing cell lines, we hope to isolate CHO clones that are genetically better equipped to best produce these life-saving therapeutics. Enhancing the producing capacity of these cells will drive the costs of these expensive treatments down, making therapies more accessible to the patient.