Cell Originsis a woman-owned business founded by Jessica Newton-Northup, Mette Soendergaard, and Leann Kuhlmann Qi in 2018. Years earlier, Mette Soendergaard and Jessica Newton-Northup formed and maintained a collaborative relationship while at theUniversity of Missouri, the birthplace of phage display technology. Here, they developed a passion for phage display and the development of phage-based methods that they now bring to Cell Origins.
Our Origin and Evolution
At Cell Origins, our passion for phage-based solutions drives us to develop innovative products and services that address the growing challenges facing the biomedical research community. We started as a company to meet a growing need identified by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop new methods for the identification and phenotypic characterization of eukaryotic cells. Cell Origins was awarded a small business innovation research (SBIR)grantfrom the NIH in 2019 to develop a phage-based method to discern the genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotypic changes to the cell biology of human cells. Thus, we named our company Cell Origins.
The Origins of Cells
Cell lines are an essential tool for scientific research, allowing scientists to study and explore a wide range of diseases and cellular mechanisms. However, cell line contamination, misidentification, and phenotypic drifting due to changes in cell culturing can greatly impact the reproducibility and accuracy of data. In fact, recent studies have found that up to 20-30% of all eukaryotic cell lines in use may becontaminatedormisidentified, leading to significant variability in data. To address this issue, we are developing a new phage-based laboratorytechnologyfor improving data reproducibility in cell line experiments by rapidly and accurately identifying cell lines and characterizing cell phenotypes. Specifically, the method is able to identify the origin of cells and monitor living cells for phenotypic drift that results from contamination and changes in culture. The technology combines the characterization of cell-type biomarkers with the quantification of RNA transcripts and short-tandem repeat (STR) sequencing.
Our Phage Display Origins
Phage display technology was first developed by Dr.George Smithat the University of Missouri in 1985. He was later awarded theNobel Prizein chemistry for his work on “the phage display of peptides and antibodies”. Phage display technology involves using filamentous bacteriophages to display peptides or antibodies on their surface, allowing for the selection and screening of specific ligand molecules with desired characteristics. In phage display selection experiments, also known asbiopanning, a peptide or antibody library is incubated with a target molecule, living cells, or tissue under conditions that allow only specific interactions between the target and the displayed peptide or antibody. After washing away unbound phage clones, bound phages are collected by elution and amplified inE. coli. Peptide or antibody sequences that bind to the target with high affinity are identified by DNA sequencing and bioinformatic analysis to generate a short list of interesting leads.
In the years since its development, phage display has been used to discover novel peptides and antibodies for a variety of biomedical applications.AtezolizumabandNecitumumabare antibodies that target PD-L1 and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), respectively, and have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat various cancers. Recently, the short peptidePegcetacoplanwas approved by the FDA for the treatment of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH).
The founders of Cell Origins were trained at the origin of phage display, at theUniversity of Missouri, and it was there that their passion for using phage display to develop cancer-targeting peptides and antibodies began. While at the University of Missouri, the scientists at Cell Origins pioneered several phage displayselectionandanalysismethods. Their passion is now used at Cell Origins to help researchers in drug discovery achieve their scientific goals. Cell Origins offers a variety of phage display services, including phage displayselections, screening,premadeandcustompeptide and antibody libraries, andconsultingon research strategies to deliver peptides and antibodies with superior binding properties and pharmacokinetics.
At Cell Origins We Are Unique
Cell Origins is a unique company in the phage display space in that we offer a custom approach that combines multi-tier selections. We work closely with our clients to gain an in-depth understanding of the molecular target and disease mechanisms. From that, we develop a detailed and custom research strategy that ensures the selection of peptide or antibody leads with specific and high-affinity binding as well as the desired pharmacokinetic properties. We specialize in difficult targets that others often have failed such as small epitopes, and biomarkers with minimal expression differences in normal versus disease-associated tissues. Further, our skilled scientists are experts in ensuring that your peptide or antibody maintains its affinity and specificity in vivo to deliver excellent targeting and pharmacokinetics.Contact usto learn more about our unique approaches to phage display.
