The new engineering platform can achieve tenfold to 100-fold increases in gene activity by improving transgene protein expression, trafficking, stability, and function, according to the company. These enhancements will ultimately result in improved efficacy, smaller doses, and increased safety for patients.

The platform incorporates the company's proprietary high-throughput mutagenesis and human cell-screening platforms to create and screen large libraries of variants. According to Integral Molecular, GeneCanvas provides a detailed analysis of each target to determine the optimal approach for protein engineering and to develop a customized work plan for the customer.

GeneCanvas uses four deep-screening platforms, which perform the following functions:

• Shotgun mutagenesis and comprehensive affinity mutagenesis are used to create thousands of targeted mutations, which are screened for binding or functional activity in human cells.
• Random mutagenesis is used to produce millions of variants, along with high-throughput flow cytometry to assess binding in live human cells.
• A library is created of thousands of mutations in bacteria, and the variants are screened for optimal activity.
• Using specialized phage protocols, variants are selected that display high-affinity binding.

The company showcased the GeneCanvas platform during the Bio Digital meeting that took place in June.