Fast-Track Discovery of SARS-CoV-2-Neutralizing Antibodies from Human B Cells by Direct Functional Screening.

As the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, rapid development of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies are crucial to guarantee a quick return to the status quo of society. In early 2020, we deployed our droplet microfluidic single-cell-based platform DROPZYLLA for the generation of cognate antibody repertoires of convalescent COVID-19 donors. Discovery of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies was performed upon display of antibodies on the surface of HEK293T cells by antigen-specific sorting using binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike and absence of binding to huACE2 as the sort criteria.

High-throughput single-cell antibody secretion quantification and enrichment using droplet microfluidics-based FRET assay.

High-throughput screening and enrichment of antibody-producing cells have many important applications. Herein, we present a droplet microfluidic approach for high-throughput screening and sorting of antibody-secreting cells using a Förster resonance electron transfer (FRET)-based assay. The FRET signal is mediated by the specific binding of the secreted antibody to two fluorescently labeled probes supplied within a droplet.