Kemp Proteins, Solving Protein-problems During COVID-19

While the global COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed business in many countries, scientists are working behind the scenes to develop effective diagnostic and therapeutic solutions. One of the US teams working with its clients on such projects is our new member, Kemp Proteins.

With more than 20 years of experience in “gene-to-protein” expression and manufacturing, Kemp Proteins is committed to remaining operational to work on such projects while still meeting the demands of its clients and the safety of its personnel.

Kemp Proteins remains operational during this time of challenge that has seen many companies close their doors. Their team of “protein-problem-solvers” has adapted in order to help diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies develop materials to address the detection and treatment of COVID-19 infections.

20 years at the service of a healthier world

“I spent 10 years working at the National Institute for Health where I learned fermentation and 7 years working at BioWhittaker where I learned the “art” of cell culture. It was the basis, for my wife Pat and I, to found Kemp Biotechnologies in 1992,” says Chris Kemp, the CSO of Kemp Proteins, reminiscing about the company’s roots. “The company used cell culture techniques coupled with recombinant protein technology to develop and manufacture diagnostic antigens for a range of uses.”

Thanks to Chris Kemp’ expertise and mentorship, Kemp Biotechnologies became a leader within the protein expression industry. It now supplies novel protein development and manufacture services to major pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic companies across the United States.

Kemp Proteins open plan laboratory. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

In 2019, after Six.02 Bioservices acquired Kemp Biotechnologies, Michael Keefe became CEO and rebranded the company as Kemp Proteins – “The Protein Problem Solvers”. Michael Keefe’s aim is to take what Pat and Chris Kemp had established and move the company to the next level by introducing new service offerings such as hybridoma development. He placed the company under the “quality first” umbrella. “Michael Keefe made investments in people, equipment and infrastructure, which is what the company really needed,” states Chris Kemp.

Since 2019, the company Kemp Proteins has quadrupled its facility footprint, tripled personnel and purchased new equipment targeted at specific service opportunities. By implementing high-quality standards, Michael Keefe and his team have gained a full AAALAC accreditation for the facility in February 2020 and are also close to completing the ISO 9001:2015 registration.

Kemp Proteins, a flexible structure committed to bringing your project to next level

Although Kemp Proteins is still considered an SME company, Chris Kemp emphasized that being small and agile has enabled the company to be flexible. In this way, they can apply their recombinant protein expression and purification protocols to a series of challenging new projects. In the end, this flexibility allows them to achieve their one goal: to move clients’ projects forward.

“Basically, our work is discovery. We are developing and producing novel proteins and antibodies for our clients to use in preclinical development of proteins for many different applications. These proteins can be antibodies, virus-like particles, protein nanoparticles, and vaccine candidates. We use a variety of cell types and production platforms to achieve the goal of the client,” Chris Kemp underlines. Michael Keefe extrapolates further: “When someone needs a protein made for the first time - they come to us.”

Video - Kemp Proteins Overview. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

The needs of each client is discussed with Kemp Proteins’ team to identify what is important in the way the required protein is made, how it will fold and how it will perform either in assays or biological function. As Michael Keefe stressed: “What we do is to truly partner and collaborate with the researchers - we can only be as good as the individuals who we are working with. The initial scientist to scientist communication is vital so that we can move ahead to the design and development stage, then into production with confidence that we have all the required information.”

Then, the lab work can start: the relevant genetic sequence is inserted into vectors, and genetic code is inserted into the host cell line. When grown in the appropriate conditions, the cells produce the required protein. Proteins are purified out of the manufacturing supernatant and, after quality control, shipped to the client.

Kemp Proteins protein purification department. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

Kemp Proteins’ team uses various mammalian, insect and E.coli cells for their production lines. The company has become a leader in the field of baculovirus and BacMam for scale up into larger bioreactors. Michael Keefe explains that, “there are many ways to express proteins and we use small scale test expressions to determine the optimum platform before we scale up for larger production needs.”

Large production capacity is exactly what Chris Kemp mentions as one thing that sets Kemp Proteins apart from others. “We have the ability to produce up to 30 or 40 grams of recombinant protein in our facility. And that’s something that isn’t available in many companies that also work in early discovery,” he concludes.

Kemp Proteins protein expression department. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

Kemp Proteins also develops stable cell lines for future protein productions. This, together with the manufacture of proteins, is performed under a Quality Management System. It enables the company to provide supporting documentation when clients wish to go to commercialization under GMP.

Kemp Proteins contributing to the fight against CoV-2

Kemp Proteins is involved in the advent of immunotherapies and they have worked on a number of projects to develop modern vaccines. “We have basically produced the antibodies or protein particles that are used to develop vaccines. It helped scientists in fighting diseases, including orphan ones that are specific to small populations,” says Chris Kemp about the company’s accomplishments.

Today, Kemp Proteins is working on reagent development and vaccine support for some of the pharmaceutical companies working on COVID-19. As research groups across the globe are approaching the CoV-2 problem from different directions, Kemp Proteins relies on their expertise in recombinant technology. They are applying it to help develop a therapeutic for COVID-19 while “working on various proteins related to CoV-2, which is the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease,” Chris Kemp explains.

Quality control management at Kemp Proteins. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

Since CoV-2 is a new virus, “people don’t understand exactly which protein should be targeted for immunization for vaccines, or for diagnostics,” states Chris Kemp. It is worth noting that scientific data was made public by Chinese scientists at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. “The scientific community came together to rapidly identify genetic sequences for use in diagnostics and potential vaccines,” states Chris Kemp.

During this time of global crisis due to the COVID-19, it is very important for Kemp Proteins to keep their labs open and operational in order to find solutions for its clients. “Many of the big pharmaceutical companies, at least in the United States, have closed their labs for at least one month,” says Michael Keefe.

At Kemp Proteins, he put in place several measures to reduce potential COVID-19 or flu infections between staff members: implementation of feasible social distancing in the lab and split time-shifts, for example. “Additionally, our cleaning staff is dedicated to cleaning the facility on a daily basis to reduce the obvious threat presented by COVID-19,” says Michael Keefe, determined to keep the lab running “so that [Kemp Proteins] can support the effort…”

Answering its clients’ demands is extremely important for Kemp Proteins as they work to find a successful conclusion for their clients and to “hopefully have material that they can take forward to clinical trials,” concludes Chris Kemp.

New equipment for new challenges

Kemp Proteins is well known for their CRO/CMO work on proteins, but the company is now gaining a reputation for their knowledge and capabilities of hybridoma development as well. It is a technique used to make cells that produce antibodies for use in a range of applications including research, diagnostic and therapeutic product development.

The company is using proprietary methods to produce thousands of clones. That includes the molecular device’s ClonePixTM2 platform for robotic picking of colonies over 10,000/ 8 hours. For high-throughput screening Kemp Proteins use the Hamilton Star. Also, they use the CloneSelect Imager to record clone development for clonality assurance without several limited dilution steps. “A very sophisticated way of doing hybridoma development,” concludes Michael Keefe. Setting up this service also included building a new vivarium for rodents and obtaining AAALAC accreditation.

Clonepix2 Hybridoma Development Suite. Courtesy of Kemp Proteins

The company is currently undergoing the ISO 9001 process. This certification will enable Kemp Proteins to offer clients a broad spectrum of services with certified quality management - from the initial idea or the “design,” all the way to the delivery of materials, the “output.” This quality standard has already attracted several new customers to Kemp Proteins and is opening new opportunities.

Indeed, the Kemp Proteins company has grown quickly and is still growing. You can be certain that Kemp Proteins will continue to use their problem-solving skills to contribute to the R&D efforts in therapeutics and diagnosis development for many years to come.

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If you have projects that could benefit from Kemp Proteins services, please do not hesitate to contact them. The company is still open during the COVID-19 confinement period with all the security commitments required to deliver high-quality services. Learn more on Kemp Proteins profile.