Aptamer commercialization| neoaptamers

Why Should NeoVentures Develop Your Aptamers?

Gregory Penner — Wed, 17 May 2023 18:20:05 +0000

NeoVentures is the leader for aptamer development globally because we have led and are continuing to lead with improvements to the aptamer development process. Over the past two years, we have reinvented aptamer development because this was needed.

Aptamers for Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Clients using aptamers for diagnostic or therapeutic applications were finding that the aptamers did not perform as well in biological fluids as antibodies do. There was a low level of cross-reactivity to abundant proteins like serum albumin and IgG. The reason for this is that with antibody development there is a process called immune tolerance whereby any antibody that binds to a self-molecule is eliminated. This does not exist with aptamer development. We thought we could achieve this by doing counter-selection against these targets, but this is not as effective as immune tolerance. Counter selection works well for the removal of aptamers that bind strongly to the counter target, but this does not work as well to remove aptamers that bind weakly to the counter target.

Clients were finding that even though they were not detecting binding to these abundant proteins, there must be a low level of cross-reactivity. Given that serum albumin is present in human plasma at a concentration of approximately 600 uM, if the client’s target protein is present at a concentration of 600 pM, there is a need for one million-fold specificity. This exists for antibodies because of immune tolerance but did not exist for the aptamers that people were trying to commercialize.

El Método de Selección de Neomer

To overcome this constraint, we developed a new method of aptamer selection that we call NEOMERS. In essence, the power of this new method is that we use a library of the same 4.29 billion sequences against every target. We developed a method that enables us to characterize the response of each of these sequences to any given target. We use this to identify the top 10,000 sequences for a target. We then identify those sequences within this 10,000 that exhibit no response at all to serum albumin or IgG.

Aptamers for Small Molecules: FRELEX

With our patented FRELEX approach, we are the leading company regarding aptamers for small molecules. The aptamers that we have developed for mycotoxins remain the best aptamers anyone has ever discovered for small molecules. With our NEOMER approach, we are now the logical choice for anyone interested in aptamers for proteins. We have developed many aptamers for the detection of transmembrane protein on living cells, aptamers that induce endocytosis for targeted drug delivery, and aptamers that bind but do not induce endocytosis for the prevention of virus infection.

Our methods are patented and proprietary, meaning that we are the only company able to provide you with the necessary level of specificity. If it is feasible to develop an aptamer for a target, then we are the best company to do it. If it is not feasible, we will tell clients that it is not feasible. Our aptamers have the level of specificity that is needed for you to succeed in using them in your applications.

Learn more by getting in touch with our team today. Contact us on our website now.

Gregory Penner

El Dr. Gregory Penner recibió una formación académica que combinaba teoría muy práctica de mejoramiento de plantas con biología molecular. Ha utilizado esta combinación de biología y matemáticas para desarrollar y liderar primero un equipo de investigación en biotecnología de cereales con el gobierno de Canadá y posteriormente como líder de investigación global en Monsanto Inc. Ha sido un líder de pensamiento en el desarrollo de aptámeros a nivel mundial durante los últimos veinte años como CEO y Presidente de NeoVentures. Ha llevado a esta empresa a una estabilidad financiera sin inversión externa con un enfoque integrado en el descubrimiento y comercialización de aptámeros. En 2015, cofundó una segunda empresa, NeoNeuro en París, Francia, centrada en un enfoque innovador para identificar Aptamarcadores para enfermedades complejas.

Conéctate con el Dr. Penner en LinkedIn Para actualizaciones de la compañía, sigue: NeoVentures.

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Denaturation of Aptamers for Commercial Applications?

Gregory Penner — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 15:23:13 +0000

The phoenix of mythology arises from the ashes of its predecessor. This seems like a very intriguing phenomena, but strikes me as difficult to control in a commercial application. Yet, we keep getting asked whether this is necessary for aptamers to work. Do aptamers need to be denatured and then allowed to renature so that they will bind to a target?

Our answer at NeoVentures is that if this is necessary for a given aptamer, then this aptamer should be discarded and you should find one that does not require denaturation prior to use. This is simply impractical for a commercial product with the aptamer, either a therapeutic or diagnostic application. At NeoVentures we do denature our libraries during the selection process. We do this at this stage because there are a large assortment of different sequences present that could hybridize to each other. We then snap cool to enhance individual shapes.

In all our binding assays we do not denature and renature. If an aptamer requires this then it will be observed as not working in our assays and discarded. Aptamers that require this are a non-starter for actual commercial use.

An aptamer that requires denaturation and renaturation in order to bind is a strong warning sign. Every aptamer is in flux among shapes at whatever temperature it is at (except 0 Kelvin). When we truncate and optimize aptamers we stabilize the shape that is responsible for binding, but still some flux is unavoidable. If an aptamer requires denaturation and renaturation to work this indicates that it is a sub-optimal shape (from a free energy point of view) that is responsible for the aptamer binding. The sub-optimal shape is likely more prevalent at an early stage of renaturation, and reduces in prevalence over time. We have observed aptamers that will work the first day that they are solubilized and then not work a few days or a week later (again, these would be discarded). For commercial applications (and really, why else are we doing this…) aptamers need to be able to stably perform for up to a year.

There are many beautiful concepts like the phoenix in mythology and I like to think that the aptamers we are producing for our clients are works of art, but works of art often only appreciate in value after the demise of the artist. The real beauty of a commercial aptamer application is robustness and simplicity.

Next week’s blog: an introduction to a new method of aptamer selection, “Neomers”.

Gregory Penner

Conéctate con el Dr. Penner en LinkedIn Para actualizaciones de la compañía, sigue: NeoVentures.

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Commercializing Aptamers: The Importance of SOPs

Gregory Penner — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 17:09:49 +0000

Scriptorium was a word used in medieval times to describe a place reserved for copying manuscripts. Now, every company developing aptamer based commercial products should define their own scriptorium, even if this refers to an online space. The most important guide for all aspects of commercial development is the standard operating procedure (SOP).

It is a good idea to develop SOPs, even when you are still optimizing product concept prior to prototype development. It is good scientific practice to only alter one variable per experiment; the best way to ensure you are doing this is to write up a clear process so you are sure that this is the only variable being evaluated.

These early SOPs form a basis for your eventual product SOP, and even product inserts. The best way to test an SOP is to have someone, other than the person that wrote it, try to replicate the experiment. Reading SOPs is not a sufficient test. Everything can seem clear until you are actually in the lab performing the experiment.

A key aspect of an SOP that is often overlooked in these early stages is defining what results are acceptable and what results mean that what you have done has failed. Specifications for acceptable performance should be defined for every step in the process, even if you do not usually measure it. This can require a lot of creativity and a different kind of thinking. This may strike you as unimportant for daily experiments, but this becomes crucial when the process is scaled to levels involving more cost for failure. To establish meaningful specifications often will require purposely altering variables to cause failure and determining at what threshold these alterations become a problem. You need to understand what does not work as well as you understand what does work.

A key advantage to working with NeoVentures is our expertise with commercializing aptamers. We know SOPs and we can work with your team as advisors in every stage of development. If you do not have a scriptorium yet, we can help you build it.

Gregory Penner

Conéctate con el Dr. Penner en LinkedIn Para actualizaciones de la compañía, sigue: NeoVentures.

Click here to get in touch with our team.

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New Year’s Predictions

partyinfrance — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 23:42:21 +0000

Nostradamus famously predicted many world events. I have searched for his insights on aptamers, but have come up empty. Therefore, I have realized that it falls upon us to make predictions for aptamers for 2022.

There will be more than one aptamer approved by the FDA for diagnostic application this year.

This is the breakthrough year, once the floodgates are breached there will be a deluge of aptamer applications in diagnostics. I expect that the majority of these applications will be based on electrochemistry.

There will be FDA approvals for aptamer based drug delivery (RNA drugs) this year.

At NeoVentures we have developed the ability to select aptamers that induce endocytosis, several applications are moving forward. The use of aptamers as vectors for drug delivery will become commonplace after this next year.

Our French company, NeoNeuro, will launch the first complex diagnostic test for brain amyloid deposition based on blood analysis in Europe.

We have succeeded in developing a set of Aptamarkers with relevant predictive capacity for brain amyloid. We have work to do to bring this to market, but a year is a long time. We intend to have this through regulatory approval and on the market this year.

Those are my predictions; I welcome everyone to add their own predictions to this list. We will review these predictions this time in 2022, and evaluate who was right and who was wrong though… I do really hope that COVID-19 will have finally sputtered out by the end of next year, but I have less confidence in that than I do in the success of aptamers achieving regulatory approval in the next year.

Happy Holidays to all

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NovaSeq the Newest Upgrade at NeoVentures

partyinfrance — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 13:24:10 +0000

NeoVentures has upgraded their next generation sequence (NGS) from Illumina HiSeq to NovaSeq. Why is this important to you?

Aptamers that will enable commercial applications in diagnostics and therapeutics have to be optimal in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The best aptamers in terms of sensitivity (binding affinity for the target) are often those with the highest copy number in NGS analysis. This does not necessarily mean that these are the best aptamers in terms of specificity (not binding to off-targets) however. With the NovaSeq platform we are observing at least a doubling of the number of sequences per aptamer library analyzed. This means that we can reliably dive much deeper into our selected libraries to identify aptamers with optimum affinity and specificity.

This level of power is another tool that NeoVentures is leveraging to help our clients develop commercial aptamers.

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Custom Aptamers “7 steps for aptamers to be applied commercially”

partyinfrance — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 09:05:04 +0000

Custom design of an aptamer selection strategy that will fit your needs.

This means appropriate counter selection, appropriate matrix selection, and appropriate target identification.

Guidance of the selection process to ensure appropriate balance between specificity and affinity.

At NeoVentures we support this by mathematically modeling the selection process.

Integration of next generation sequencing analysis with aptamer selection.

Provide solid scientific basis for selection of candidate sequences for binding assays

Binding assays that relate to commercial application.

Replicate commercial applications in candidate testing as much as possible.

Aptamers that do not require denaturation prior to use.

If an aptamer requires prior denaturation it is not fit to be commercialized.

Aptamer optimization.

– Full length aptamers arising from selection libraries are not ready for commercialization.

– We analyze the energy landscape of aptamer shapes and perform truncation and nucleotide substitutions to develop aptamers with improved performance.

– This step is a necessary part of all of our projects.

If necessary engineering aptamer detection strategy

– We do not select aptamers capable of allosteric shifts, we identify aptamers that bind optimally and then we engineer appropriate signalling mechanisms.

NeoVentures is not just an aptamer identification company. We are an aptamer solutions provider. We have 18 years of experience working with aptamers and over this time we have succeeded with the development of aptamers for the following types of targets.

Proteínas
Moléculas pequeñas <1,000 daltons
Proteínas receptoras en células
Aptámeros específicos de tejidos
Aptámeros que bloquean la unión de ligandos a receptores.
Aptámeros que funcionan en formatos de diagnóstico de flujo lateral y de flujo a través.
Aptámeros que funcionan en formatos de detección en solución libre.
Aptámeros que funcionan en biosensores.

In our next blog post we would be discussing commercial aptamers in diagnostics.

Stay tuned!

To learn more about aptamers and how their use could help you expand and improve your existing diagnostic and #therapeutic platform portfolio please click on link below to contact

CONTACT NOW

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How To Buy Aptamers ?

partyinfrance — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 23:43:28 +0000

How to Buy Aptamers ? NeoVentures does not have a catalog for aptamers nor sell a pre-set aptamer development package. Your journey with us starts with our understanding of your needs for aptamer performance.

We use this to develop a customized strategy for every aspect of project development from identifying the most useful aptamers, to confirming their performance and to incorporating them into your needs.

We build collaborations with our partners that enable us to work together dynamically to overcome hurdles to the commercialization of aptamer-based healthcare solutions.

How to buy aptamers with us:

Free consultation

We will assess the feasibility of your project and design a work plan specific for your needs.

Customize it

We design a selection strategy that is specific for your project.

We develop it

Ejecutamos una estrategia de selección, realizamos análisis de secuenciación de nueva generación (NGS) e identificamos secuencias candidatas.

Operational aptamers

We optimize aptamer performance by stabilizing binding structures and then incorporate these into your project concept.

To learn more about aptamers and how their use could help you expand your existing diagnostic and therapeutic platform portfolio please click the button link below to contact us.

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Aptamers Vs Antibodies

partyinfrance — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:14:18 +0000

Advantages Of Aptamers Over Antibodies

For diagnosis of viral infection aptamers are clearly the preferred choice over antibodies in the developing world where the need for consistent refrigeration may pose a problem. We have been able to achieve the necessary levels of sensitivity with aptamers in rapid flow-through tests with a proprietary (patent filed) application involving hybrid gold nanoparticles (GNPs).

A significant advantage of aptamers over antibodies with GNPs is that we can pack a lot more on per particle (average of 150 detection aptamers per 20 nm diameter GNP). This capacity allows us to create GNPs loaded with both detection aptamers and signal oligonucleotides, thus amplifying the signal per target binding event.

Below are some 5 key advantages of Aptamers over antibodies :

The stability of aptamers is higher.
In terms of manufacturing, the generation of aptamers is a cheaper, easier and faster process.
the specificity and thus variability of results are significantly lower, since aptamers are chemically synthesized.
Aptamers are resistant to high temperatures and their regeneration can be easily performed and repeated.
aptamers are smaller than antibodies and therefore can be easily transported and penetrate tissues better than antibodies.

For many years, researchers have been raising and modifying antibodies to detect specific circulating proteins and develop targeted therapeutic agents. While antibodies are highly effective for a wide range of applications, there are unique aptamer advantages that can overcome some difficult scientific challenges.

In our next blog we would be talking about difficult scientific challenges that aptamers can overcome

Learn more about aptamer selection for your project.

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partyinfrance — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 09:38:59 +0000

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Commercializing Aptamers Part 6

partyinfrance — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 09:31:17 +0000

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw

In this blog, I am staying on the theme of commercialization of aptamers, leading up to our forthcoming webinar on aptamer commercialization on October 20^th. The focus of this blog may be controversial, I am suggesting that one of the biggest constraints to commercialization of aptamers is the current nature of peer reviewed publications on aptamer applications.

The problem as I see it with peer reviewed publications on aptamer applications are as follows;

Trying to replicate published results is extremely difficult due to a lack of sufficient information regarding protocols.

There are many reasons for this. One, is that the material and methods sections of publications often resemble nested Russian dolls with references to references that may or may not actually contain the protocol.

Another difficulty is the difference in approach to the science behind a publication and the effort to replicate it. When replicating a scientific experiment, the question continually arises as to whether this particular experiment was valid or should be discarded. Science focused only on publication does not require dealing with specifications for every step. If the results do not look right, they can be ignored, that experiment can be ignored, and the process repeated. When replicating the experiment, or even worse trying to commercialize it, this option does not exist. There is a need to consider why the results from different experiments differ. We need to set specifications for every element such that an experimental result would be discarded on the basis of not meeting these specifications, not because the result does not match what we expect.

A third reason that publications are difficult to replicate is the aspect of time. The time between the formulation of an aptamer, formulation of buffers, solubilization of targets and the experiment being performed can affect the outcome. This crucial knowledge required for the replication of experiments is generally absent from publications.

Often results from peer-reviewed publications are not reproducible even if you follow everything that the authors did completely.

I am not saying here that authors are lying about their data. We have had results in our laboratory that are tremendously exciting, but which we cannot replicate. Such results in our current peer-reviewed process can and often are published. A key difficulty is that scientific communication has ceased to be a conversation and become a commodity. Academic appointments are largely based on the number of publications that the applicant has, not the reproducibility of these publications. There is a constant proliferation of journals and conferences all aimed at making money out of scientific conversation. This has become a cacophony where talking scores points, listening does not.

I think that in our online age, the concept of peer-review is outdated. I think every scientist should simply be posting their results (after filing appropriate patents) on their websites along with appropriate and fully detailed protocols. Such postings should necessarily include and maintain comment threads by others who read the results and try to replicate them. Your reputation should be based on the reproducibility of your results within the community not by passing the gate of being merely read by two or three others.

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