Monoclonal antibodies for Monash

Monash University has joined forces with international life sciences supply company Tecan to develop a new state-of-the-art monoclonal antibody production system at the university's Clayton campus.

Capable of producing thousands of novel antibodies every year for researchers around the world, the facility will be the largest facility of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.

The use of monoclonal antibodies has proven crucial to the understanding of a myriad of physiological processes, and has led to new approaches in the treatment of diseases with great unmet clinical need.

"Successful research relies on scientists having enough monoclonal antibodies to be able to test their theories and this facility will increase production of this valuable resource, ten-fold," the director of the Monash Antibody Technology Facility, Alan Sawyer, said.

The new automated facility will increase production of monoclonal antibodies from hundreds to potentially 5000 a year.

It will be developed by a team of engineers at Tecan's company headquarters in Switzerland, before being installed at the at Monash University's School of Biomedical Sciences.

The initial instalment of the robotic systems will begin at the end of 2007 and be finalised in March of 2008.

The new system will be partially funded by the Victorian Government and Monash University, the federal government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and the Australian Stem Cell Centre.