Technology
Our platform combines two ground-breaking technologies, “EpitoPrediktTM & EpitoGen®”, to create a self-learning system that offers clinical solutions and transformative products.
EpitoPrediktTM Development
Immunodominance
Immunodominance is the phenomenon when an immune response is mounted against just a few antigenic determinants (epitopes). Using in-house experimental data, our team was able to create EpitoPrediktTM, a software designed to identify dominant immunogenic B-cell and T-cell epitopes. Importantly, this software is trainable and can pinpoint the corresponding antibody (i.e. IgM, IgG, IgA & IgE) in response to a particular epitope, as well as the MHC class that will present the antigen.
The software is embedded with immune-inspired and genetic algorithms as well as deep and machine learning architecture, therefore it is continually evolving.
EpitoPrediktTM – Learning Capabilities
The software continually learns to analyse protein sequences, both identifying dominant immunogenic sequences and generating novel sequences with increased/decreased immunogenicity. To expedite the AI’s learning process, evolutionary computation and immune-inspired approaches are used to finetune the hyperparameters and learn the parameters of the AI model. This creates a revolutionary tool in diagnostics, vaccine development and treatment.
Learning Capabilities
Software Optimization
EpitoGen® Development
EpitoGen® is derived from naturally occurring proteins with high stability
Our scientific team bioengineered the initial protein, enhancing its overall stability and promoting its capacity to display epitopes and nanobodies
Arms D1 & D3 form a stable structure, displaying epitope(s) in the native conformation with the correct orientation
EpitoGen® Properties
- Non-reactive with human sera or other fluids
- Display epitopes/nanobodies in their native conformations
- EpitoGen® scaffold binds preferentially to testing surfaces
- Present epitopes/nanobodies in the correct orientation
- Multiplexing capacity (up to 50 epitopes)
- Display a range of epitope sizes (5 to 700 amino acids)
- High efficiency, high expression yield and stability
Compatible with “gold standard” ELISA & Lateral flow technologies
AI EpitoGen® applications
1-Serodiagnosis
Immunodominant regions are identified using EpitoPrediktTM.
Relevant epitopes are then multiplexed, expressed, and displayed on the EpitoGen® scaffold to create a chimeric antigen, which forms the basis of the serology test.
This approach offers multiple solutions to boost the test performance and overcome persisting issues with existing serology platforms:
- Directional immobilisation of antigens through the binding properties of the scaffold
- Focusing on immunodominant elements to elevate the assay sensitivity
- Multiplexing of several antigens to overcome the genetic heterogeneity of the population
- Identifying and eliminating cross-reactive epitopes to increase the assay specificity
2-Diagnostic Products
EpitoGen® has the potential to transform diagnostic antigen tests by displaying antibody fragments (scFV, IgNAR, VhH) on the EpitoGen scaffold.
Our EpitoGen® system guarantees a high expression yield, reduced aggregation, and higher stability, all of which reduce production costs. Importantly, the diagnostic sensitivity of the tests will also be higher due to the properties of the scaffold which binds preferentially to test surfaces. This ensures epitopes/nanobodies are presented in the correct orientation and improves their accessibility.
3-Vaccine Design
Epitope-based chimeric/subunit vaccines have many advantages when compared to conventional vaccines.
They are cheaper, faster to produce, and a safer option. Moreover, with our AI-driven EpitoGen® platform, it is now easier to identify and screen epitopes that elicit a strong immune response.
Epitopes with high antigenicity, non-allergenicity, nontoxicity, and positive immunogenicity are multiplexed, expressed, and assembled on the EpitoGen® scaffold. In addition, our EpitoGen scaffold can safely facilitates vaccine delivery due to its high stability.
DNA vaccines are also an option.
4- Immunogenicity Profiling
Epitope mapping has become increasingly vital in vaccine, serodiagnosis, and antibody drug development. We can now offer a comprehensive and modular antibody epitope and seromarker profiling service.
EpitoPrediktTM scans therapeutic candidates for immunogenicity scaling. Depending on the therapeutic context, biologics have proven to be surprisingly immunogenic.
Our software can identify potential immunogenic signatures of relevant targets and pinpoint artificial mutations to reduce antigenicity via substitution, deletion and insertion.
Our EpitoGen® technology provides an in vitro screening system to profile leading candidates, thus reducing the risk of failure due to high immunogenicity.
5-Epitope-based Antibodies
The epitope-based antibody development strategy is a powerful platform to generate specific antibodies for candidates with high sequence homology. EpitoGen® can display multiple epitopes that are unique to the relevant candidate for the immunisation steps.
The multi-epitope approach and the flexibility in epitope sizes provide a significant advantage compared with existing antibody development platforms.
The EpitoGen® system also delivers a high throughput, cost-effective screening method for selecting the best antibodies.
6- Antibody Bioengineering
Revolutionizing medicine with innovative antibody bioengineering.
Antibody fragments (scFV, IgNAR, VhH) can be displayed on the EpitoGen® scaffold to enable evolutionary mutations of the paratope to boost affinity and specificity.
This approach can be applied to any protein to enrich for desired characteristics.