Dr. Jason Tonillo
Senior scientist in ADCs and targeted NBE therapeutics, Global R&D, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Project Goal
Characterize antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in terms of amino acid sequence, drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) and post-translational modifications.
The Challenges
- Establishing a native mass spectrometry method that maintains the quaternary structure of interchain cysteine conjugated ADCs.
- Establishing a label-free method for the quantification of serum incubated ADCs.
The solution
- Top-down approach for quick confirmation of proteins, identification of common post-translational modifications and determination of the DAR.
- Bottom-up mass spectrometry for in-depth analysis of the amino acid sequence and site localization of modifications.
- BioPharmaView™ Software automatically calculates the DAR and creates a report, which can be sent to customers without further manual changes.
The outcome
- Generic method for routine analysis of the DAR, regardless of antibody, linker and payload.
- Quick confirmation of the protein identity of small-scale expressions.
Goals
Achieve in-depth characterization of antibodies and ADCs
SCIEX products
- TripleTOF® 6600+ LC-MS/MS System
- X500R QTOF System