Researchers Worldwide Are Using Berkeley Lights' Beacon Platform To Combat COVID-19

PR83086

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

- Berkeley Lights' proprietary technology, the Beacon(R) optofluidic platform,

is currently used by researchers across three continents—the U.S., China, and

Australia—to help them find solutions for the Coronavirus

Berkeley Lights, Inc., a leader in cell selection, is currently engaged with

universities and medical centers in the U.S., China, and Australia who are

looking to create vaccines and therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19, the

disease caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus or, simply, Coronavirus. Using Berkeley

Lights' proprietary technology, the Beacon(R) optofluidic platform, Vanderbilt

University Medical Center (VUMC) and GenScript China are currently screening

patient blood samples to find the necessary antibodies required to help develop

a solution to the Coronavirus, while researchers at the University of

Queensland in Australia are evaluating the Beacon platform as a means to

expedite development of their recombinant subunit vaccine program.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1078159/Berkeley_Lights_Logo.jpg

The Vanderbilt Vaccine Center (VVC) is one of the lead sites within the DARPA

Pandemic Prevention Platform Program (P3). Given its history of increased speed

to therapy with the Zika and other viral targets, the VVC has been selected by

DARPA to be a primary site in the U.S. for the development of novel

antibody-based therapeutics for the prevention of SARS-CoV2 infection. The VVC

recently began receiving crucial human samples from recovered patients which

will be screened using Berkeley Lights' Beacon platform to enable the discovery

of protective antibodies.

"The Beacon platform allows us to use B-cells in a single cell assay, enabling

exploration of a much greater diversity of potentially protective antibodies,

helping us more quickly identify the best antibodies," said Dr. Robert

Carnahan, project lead for the Crowe Lab at VUMC.  

In Australia, the University of Queensland is one of several groups selected (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2733690-1&h=895859071&u=https%3A%2F%2Fcepi.net%2Fnews_cepi%2Fcepi-to-fund-three-programmes-to-develop-vaccines-against-the-novel-coronavirus-ncov-2019%2F&a=selected

) by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop a

Coronavirus vaccine as a result of its recently released rapid response

technology (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2733690-1&h=3595947374&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uq.edu.au%2Fnews%2Farticle%2F2019%2F01%2Fpartnership-supercharge-vaccine-production&a=technology

). The University is assessing the Beacon platform as it looks to find ways to

accelerate early development toward clinical testing.  

"The Beacon platform helps us to be manufacturing-ready more rapidly than use

of traditional approaches, potentially saving months off our timeline," said

Dr. Trent Munro, Director of the National Biologics Facility and Program

Director for the CEPI-funded Vaccine Rapid Response pipeline at the University

of Queensland. "As we are seeing, every day matters in our response to the

COVID-19 outbreak and we are hopeful this approach will be enabling for future

vaccine production."

Additionally, GenScript Biotech Corporation announced (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2733690-1&h=2264851005&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fgenscript-probio-screens-anti-2019-ncov-antibodies-in-just-24-hours-301000362.html&a=announced

) in early February that its researchers have successfully screened and

identified antibodies for COVID-19 in less than 24 hours with the Beacon

platform. This process usually takes three months using traditional hybridoma

antibody screening. This is a huge breakthrough in fighting outbreaks faster

and finding preventive and therapeutic treatment, specifically for Coronavirus.

About Berkeley Lights

Here at Berkeley Lights, we think cells are awesome! Cells are capable of

manufacturing cures for diseases, fibers for clothing, energy in the form of

biofuels, and food proteins for nutrition. So the question is, if nature is

capable of manufacturing the products we need in a scalable way, why aren't we

doing more of this? Well, the answer is that with the solutions available

today, it is hard. It takes a long time to find the right cell for a specific

job, costs lots of money, and if you have picked a suboptimal cell line, has a

very low process yield. Berkeley Lights has the complete solution to find the

best cells by functionally screening and recovering individual cells for

antibody discovery, cell line development, T cell analysis, and synthetic

biology. Our proprietary technology and Beacon(R) and Lightning(TM) platforms

accelerate the rate you can discover and develop cell-based products in a

fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of conventional, legacy

research methods. Using our tools and solutions, scientists can find the best

cells, the first time they look. For more information, visit

www.berkeleylights.com.

Berkeley Lights' Beacon and Lightning platforms and Culture Station Instrument

are:

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Press Contact:

berkeleylights@bulleitgroup.com

SOURCE:  Berkeley Lights, Inc.