The Pichia Platform
RCT's Pichia platform includes Pichia Expression and Pichia GlycoSwitch™ Pichia Expression is used for producing non-glycosylated products, or for products in which yeast glycosylation is acceptable. Pichia GlycoSwitch™ is used for producing human-like glycosylated products.
Pichia Expression
Pichia pastoris is the yeast species most commonly used to produce recombinant proteins, and many laboratories around the world employ it to make proteins for medical and research applications. Pichia Expression has become an important gene expression system because it offers high cell density, superior expression, a controllable process, stability and durability. Pichia also efficiently secretes heterologous proteins in define media. The Pichia Expression system can be initially tested through the purchase of various kits from RCT's partner, Invitrogen
Several biopharmaceuticals produced using the Pichia Expression system have completed late stage clinical development or been approved for human use. These products are either not glycosylated or are not impaired by yeast glycosylation. Examples of pharmaceutical proteins made in Pichia include: a vaccine against hepatitis B; human serum albumin, a component for an artificial blood plasma; and DX-88 (ecallantide), a small protein that inhibits plasma kallikrein and is being developed for the treatment of hereditary angioedema.
To learn more about the utility of the Pichia Expression system and its history, read the following article by James M. Cregg, Ph.D. A molecular and cellular biologist with particular expertise and interest in yeasts, Cregg has played a major role in developing the Pichia Expression system.
The Pichia System (PDF)
Pichia GlycoSwitch™
No single host protein production system can produce all types of proteins and biologics. Pichia has become a major platform for protein expression, and its use has grown and progressed over the last several years, producing an ever-expanding variety of novel proteins, including unique strains to enable the use of Pichia to make human-like proteins, control glycosylation patterns, create new compositions of matter and deliver the next generation of biologics.
Roland Contreras, Ph.D.; Nico Callewaert, Ph.D.; and colleagues at Ghent University and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) in Belgium, in collaboration with RCT, have developed a technology that modifies Pichia to make the production of proteins with human-like glycosylation possible. This improvement to RCT's Pichia platform is called Pichia GlycoSwitch™.
The Pichia GlycoSwitch™ system consists of patents, strains and vectors that are useful for making proteins with a number of different homogenous glycoforms.
RCT is seeking corporate partners interested in commercializing this novel protein production. If you are interested in evaluating the potential of Pichia GlycoSwitch™, contact RCT.
