Cleaning up T-cell Expansion

Courtesy of Dynal Biotech

Oslo-based Dynal Biotech http://www.dynalbiotech.com has built an entire company around its Dynabeads, which are tiny paramagnetic particles that bind target cells, proteins, or nucleic acids, and can be removed in seconds with a magnet once their work is done.

Dynal's newest kit, the Mouse CD3/CD28 T-cell Expander, eliminates much of the tedium from the task of T-cell expansion. Released to complement Dynal's human T-cell expander, as well as its recently launched kit for mouse B-cell negative isolation, the kit bridges the gap between human research and animal models.

Conventional T-cell expansion methods require that researchers maintain a separate line of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). "You have to use live cells, and keep them in culture, and feed them. It's much more tedious," says Dynal product manager Erik Ruud. The cell-sized Dynabeads (4.5 μm in diameter) are coated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies to mimic the...