Syngene has an excellent track record in expression and purification of protein reagents and antibodies from various expression systems – bacterial, mammalian, insect cells, and yeast.  We make and ship more than 2000 proteins a year to our clients.

To cater to the requirements of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, Syngene has successfully fast-tracked the generation of the SARS-COV-2 reagent proteins towards development of various diagnostic kits as well as for novel antibody and vaccine discovery.

Syngene has used mammalian expression systems to express and purify SARS-COV-2 proteins and supplied them to several of our clients.  We can generate gram level quantities of various reagent proteins which include:

  • SARS-COV-2 -Spike protein domains (S1, S2, RBD, full length spike)
  • SARS-COV-2 -Nucleocapsid protein
  • Assay support for diagnostics
  • Antibodies against S1 and RBD (under development)
  • ACE2 receptor cell lines and assays (under development)
  • Neutralization assays (under development)

We are also developing a recombinant ‘S pseudo-typed lentivirus’ mimicking the Corona virus. This virus will be safe to work with even in BSL 2 laboratories. Since it has the spike protein on its surface, it can be used to aid new drug discoveries.

Syngene has also standardized an ELISA testing mechanism using the SARS-CoV2 S1 protein. Data generated for 350 healthy individuals and 35 confirmed COVID-19 positive individuals, indicates the high accuracy and specificity of the assays (> 95%).

Syngene has state-of-the-art protein analytics instrumentation to test the QC of each batch of reagent protein. This includes SDS-PAGE, Western blot, Analytical SE-HPLC, protein mass spec, binding studies using BIAcore and endotoxin analysis

SARS-COV-2 Spike S1

The S1 protein is heavily glycosylated (13 glycosylation sites) and hence expressed in a mammalian system to retain all post translational modifications. It has a 65% sequence homology to the spike S1 protein of SARS-COV virus. Syngene has coupled the COV-2 S1 protein (Wuhan strain, accession number – MN908947; amino acids 13-685) to 6X His tag for ease of purification and identification.

SARS-COV-2 Spike RBD

The RBD protein is glycosylated (2 glycosylation sites) and hence expressed in a mammalian system to retain all post translational modifications. The sequence and structural differences between the RBD domains of SARS-COV and SARS-COV-2 features induce the COV-2 RBD to have a higher affinity to ACE2 receptor. Syngene has coupled the COV-2 spike RBD protein (Wuhan strain, accession number – MN908947; amino acids 319-541) to 6X His tag.

SARS-COV-2 Nucleocapsid

The nucleocapsid protein is expressed in a mammalian system to retain all post translational modifications. Syngene has coupled the COV-2 nucleocapsid protein (Wuhan strain, accession number – MN908947) to 6X His tag.

Syngene's contribution to COVAXIN featured in The Lancet

Syngene supplied the high-quality S1, RBD, and N proteins that were critical for setting up clinical-grade assays for monitoring the efficacy of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine, COVAXIN. Syngene’s contribution was acknowledge in the results of the COVAXIN Phase 2 trials published in the prestigious journal, “The Lancet”.