High-Throughput Binding Affinity Assessment Using Octet® HTX

By James Taylor, Eunju Yoon, and Sewon Park, Cell Line Development Group, Samsung Biologics

Binding affinity is a critical quality attribute in biologics development, particularly for multispecific antibodies and fusion proteins, where preserving the binding properties of each functional domain can complicate cell line development. Conventional ELISA-based screening often requires purified material and can limit throughput, making it difficult to generate binding data early enough to support efficient clone selection.

In this paper, James Taylor, Eunju Yoon, and Sewon Park of Samsung Biologics’ Cell Line Development Group explore the use of Bio-Layer Interferometry (BLI) on the Octet HTX platform to assess binding directly from crude cell culture supernatants. The method enables relative binding comparisons against a reference standard without requiring purified material at the initial screening stage. Two case studies demonstrate its application to an Fc-fusion protein and an asymmetric bispecific antibody, illustrating how early binding assessments can help characterize candidate molecules with different structural formats. The authors also describe a two-tiered screening workflow that combines initial, higher-throughput assessments with more detailed analysis when needed.

By incorporating binding data earlier in cell line development, this approach may help teams identify promising clones and prioritize candidates for further characterization. Explore the methodology and case study results to understand how BLI-based screening can support binding assessment and decision-making during biologics development.