- Hello and thank you
for joining this New England Biolabs presentation
entitled Reagents and Technologies
to Address Pandemic Response Partnering with NEB.
I am Doctor Morgane Moreau NEB's Territory Manager
for the Great East of France.
After introducing our company and values,
I'll highlight some of our reagents
for SARS-CoV-2 detection and diagnostic developments.
I'll then introduce our customized solution capabilities
and how NEB can be a collaborative partner
for your developments.
NEB has been driving innovation for 45 years.
This family owned company was created
by Don Comb pictured on the right.
In the mid 70s, he started
to commercialize the first recombinant enzymes
for other research use.
Since then he established his company
as a company of Scientists for scientists.
Over 40% of our employees are in research and development.
We are now a world leader in the discovery
and production of enzymes
for molecular biology applications.
Our portfolio grew from restriction enzymes
and cloning reagents
to high-fidelity polymerase used in NGS
and molecular diagnostics.
We also have enzymes and master mixes
for isothermal amplification and qPCR.
We have a portfolio for nucleic acid extractions
and a savoir faire in NGS reagents.
We also provide products around RNA biology
such as RNA synthesis and genome editing enzymes.
Lastly, we have products for protein expression
since it is a core of our savoir faire
as well as reagents for glycomics.
We are mostly renowned for the high quality of our products
and unprecedented technical support.
Thanks to the direct contact with our R&D teams.
So now that you've got an overview of who NEB is,
I'd like to present our core products
for the diagnostic developments.
We have solutions for nucleic acid extractions
with unique specificities
but given the time constraints here,
I choose to focus on our virus detection sequencing
and epidemiological tools.
First, a technology that has gained a lot
of momentum during this epidemia is
Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification.
The amplification here takes place
at a constant temperature.
So you just need a heating block.
It works with a set of four to six primers
and a strand-displacing polymerase.
The design of those primers is critical
to the success of the reactions.
So to help researchers NEB developed
a user-friendly online tool to help you
with the design of the primers.
Their reaction generates long concatemers
and such massive amounts of DNA
that numerous methods of detections are possible.
You can also use real-time fluorescence
or end-point fluorescence, lateral flow detection,
agarose gel or turbidity.
You can even use a simple visual detection a method
or a simple plate reader.
The Colorimetric LAMP is unique to NEB
and it uses the release of protons
during amplification to induce a color change
with the change of pH in the reaction.
Interestingly, this technique has been widely used
on direct patient samples.
Shortening drastically its time from sampling to results.
We've had these products in the catalog for a long time.
They were mostly used for veterinary application
as it is particularly suited
to screen large herds in the field
or to use as point of care diagnostic in the field.
The current crisis really shed light on its use
as a potential new way to do diagnostics for human health
simply because it doesn't require specific equipment
and that the readout is available in 30 minutes
Since we are interested in providing more diagnostic posts
to the community,
we have developed a multiplex method for LAMP
to increase the throughput of this technology
and detect multiple pathogens in a single reaction.
In this example, we detect four targets at once
with a real-time or end-point fluorescence readout.
So the take home message for the LAMP technology is
that it's so simple to run but it can be deployed
for mass screening.
It has been already included in many diagnostic applications
developed by highly renown institutes such as Harvard
or MIT. These reagents are included in kits
that have been approved by the FDA or the CNR
or that are included in CE-IVD kits.
Nevertheless, qPCR stays the Gold Standard
for SARS-CoV-2 detection and other diagnostics.
Since NEB is fairly new in the qPCR field,
I'd like to introduce to you our Luna portfolio
The data presented here show a comparison
of our One-Step Luna RT-qPCR Probe master mix
to other suppliers reagents.
The data were obtained based
on selection criteria coming from the MP guidelines.
These product has been out for three years now.
And these performance I've been
since confirmed by many of our users.
It is a very robust master mix
and it's been shown
to be compatible with direct saliva
and Nasopharyngeal samples without extraction
such as in the FDA approved SalivaDirect protocol.
There is currently five FDA approved kits
including Luna reagents.
And we now have 4X master mix with UDG
for increased multiplexing and carry over prevention.
Another example of the robustness of Luna reagents,
is that results are consistent
no matter how long the plate sits at room temperature
before the run starts.
Which is not the case with the TaqPath reagents.
And this is possible, thanks to our jewel, enzyme control,
that's innovations from NEB.
We will soon release a SARS-CoV-2
Luna qPCR kit for research use only
as NEB doesn't intend to develop the diagnostics
but is happy to provide performance products
for people to develop their own kits.
The last group of reagents I'd like
to introduce is our library prep reagents.
NEB provided Solexa-Illumina
with enzyme for their first library prep kits.
So NGS reagents are totally part of NEB savoir faire.
I'd like to highlight here in this very quality slide,
some ARTIC application.
ARTIC protocols were extensively shared
during the first wave
and they were updated regularly with new improvements.
Our LunaScript reverse transcriptase
to cover the renowned superscript three
in the ARTIC protocol.
And our NGS reagents for library prep have been used widely
by many reputable institutes including the Sanger Institute,
Pasteur Institute, MIT or Harvard
and even the CDC to provide the most accurate sequences
of SARS-CoV-2.
I invite you to go
and have a look at our scientist speak,
scientific, sorry, poster on the 4ID website
showcasing the performance of our soon
to be released NEBNext ARTIC kit.
Now I like to present how NEB can be your partner
for your product development.
As I said, it's not our intention to develop diagnostics
but our customers are.
In the current crisis really highlighted
there are weakened play
in helping them developing the right products
throughout its life cycle.
First, we work closely with our clients research
and development departments at the early stage
of the project to provide the best product
and technical advice.
We are then capable of manufacturing large quantities
to solidify your supply chain
that formulation if needed
as well as packaging and kitting.
We can even put your own logo on our products.
We maintain the appropriate ISO certifications
such as ISO-901 and 13485 for regulatory needs.
And we have a new GMP-grade production facility too.
We can continue to help you scaling up
while minimizing costs.
We've played a role in molecular diagnostics since 2010
and in advanced therapeutics
since our new GMP-grade facility opened
in 2020 producing reagents useful
for nucleic acid-based therapeutics.
Finally, you'll find all of our COVID-19 related resources
such as products, protocols and citations
on international.neb.com.
Just type in "supporting COVID"
and you'll find all our COVID related resources.
And don't hesitate to reach out to me
or to Nicolas Doll our NGS
and OEM Bulk Representative
who is also attending this Congress.
Thank you very much for your attention.
And I'm happy to take any questions.
- Thanks Morgane, for the nice talk
which is really important, you know, at this time
especially for COVID-19 that's diagnostic.
So let's see if there's certain questions.
Do not hesitate to use the QNR,
you know, for the question especially
at this time,
I could see that there's no question.
I don't know on your side Anna,
did you receive some questions?
- No, I don't have that question on my side.
- Perhaps Morgane I could jump in, you know,
related to all of these diagnostic harmonization,
especially, you know for COVID-19
and was it an involvement of you know
like International Agency, you know
for harmonization of the,
let's say like the reagent
and also like the template, you know
for this type of diagnostic as well, you know
so it does an IBS-C has been involve
or WHO also have been involved, you know,
in your development.
- So, in France not that I am aware of
but it varies depending on countries.
I know it's been different.
The government in Canada has been,
I think, including
to this centralization of reagents
and approval of reagents.
Not in France, in France it didn't work that way.
- Okay I see.
- [Both] There's question.
- Yeah, yeah exactly.
And then the other question we got,
you know, like can you use FTA cards
instead of NP swab?
You know, that was one of the question.
I don't know if you understand that one.
- So FTA card is that this paper based putting
to spot sample.
- I guess so yeah, that was a question
from the all viewer tech .
I don't know if somebody could yeah,
could yeah, okay.
- I'm happy to,
without having more details it's really hard
to answer this question,
but if you wants to reach out and we can speak about
to talk about that,
give me more details.
- And of course, for the speaker
you know, we could have also questioned in the chat room
do not hesitate, you know, for the next speaker
the people are part of the panels to ask question.
Is there some question, Anna that you have on your side?
- I'm not sure, Valerie, do you have a question
that you would like to put
- Perhaps yeah, there was one perhaps.
- Yeah, hello Valerie speaking.
Yes I was just wondering if you were involved
in the production of enzymes for the mRNA vaccine platform
if New England Biolabs played a role?
- I'm not sure if I can disclose this information.
We do provide reagents for IVT reactions
and our GMP grade facility has been built
for these circles.
Yes, that's all I can say.
- Okay, thank you.
- From the SPCs and T7 polymerase, I guess.
Okay, great so is there,
you know, other question on the side
that has been answered.
Thanks over here, okay good.
So thanks, Morgane.
- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
And we look forward, you know, for yeah,
you could contact Morgane and Nicolas, you know
for further information and also like,
- Exactly.
- the poster from New England Biolab, do not hesitate.