What factors should I consider when generating monoclonal antibodies?

These are the most important factors to consider when generating monoclonal antibodies:

• Cell line: Ensure that the cell line is stable and that it produces monoclonal antibodies in the correct conformation and at a high level.  
• Culture medium: To achieve consistent results between lots, ensure that you maintain the culture medium composition used with hybridoma cells from one lot to another. Also, avoid the use of serum and other animal-derived products in cells used for generating monoclonal antibodies. 
• Culture conditions: After the appropriate cell density is achieved, you’ll need to alter the culture conditions to promote antibody production. 
• Production platform: The production platform is a critical factor with options including batch, continuous fermentation, and fed-batch processes. These methods vary in how they manage nutrient depletion and production efficiency. In a batch, the nutrients get depleted and the cells stop generating antibodies because the medium is not renewed during production. The optimum concentration of growth factors is continuously renewed during continuous fermentation. The fed-batch process involves adding nutrients at specific intervals, which allows the manufacturer to easily switch between the growth and production processes. 
• Production system: The desired final product will influence the production system used. High-scale production is unnecessary for generating antibodies for research purposes.  On the other hand, generating higher quality and quantity of monoclonal antibodies is important for applications such as immunotherapy.