Unlocking the Power of Human Antibodies: Abvion's Mission to Transform Therapeutics

What if we could harness the human body’s own defenses to solve the toughest diseases?

Welcome to the first in a series of articles on the Abvion blog, where we'll explore our biotech spin-off and its mission to realize a paradigm shift in human antibody discovery. I'm Maurits den Boer, and I co-founded Abvion together with my PhD supervisor, prof Albert Heck, to bring our innovative ideas from academia to real-world impact. Here, I’ll share our journey – from a bold idea at Utrecht University to a cutting-edge serological antibody discovery platform ready to reshape antibody therapeutics.

From a Lab Dream to a Biotech Vision

As a company founder, I’ve always had a passion for entrepreneurship and building new technologies. During my PhD in prof Albert Heck's lab at Utrecht University, I found just what I was looking for. Here, we had the opportunity to work as a team developing cutting-edge analytical tools for characterizing human antibodies. Our dream was bold: analyze antibodies directly from human serum to capture the natural immune response with unmatched resolution and fidelity.

At the time, this seemed impossible. Antibody repertoires were thought to be too complex, with billions of unique molecules. Regardless, we persevered and had a few breakthroughs. Using mass spectrometry, we soon uncovered that serological antibody repertoires were much simpler than previously believed. To our surprise, we found only a few hundred stable antibodies dominating repertoires (Bondt et al. 2021), with perhaps thousands of less abundant, dynamic ones responding to new threats – like SARS-CoV-2 (Van Rijswijck et al. 2022). Excitingly, we also found that even basic textbook knowledge was sometimes incomplete. For example, our research revealed that the small protein CD5L is an additional component of serum IgM antibodies, which had previously been overlooked (Oskam et al. 2023).

Bit by bit, our team began to realize that you need to examine the final functional molecules at the protein level (the antibodies themselves!) to get the full picture. This convinced us that there may be a vast potential in natural immune repertoires that we could still uncover and use as a basis for the next generation of human-derived antibody therapeutics. With that vision, I founded Abvion together with prof Albert Heck. And not much later, lab alumnus Sem Tamara joined us in turning our lab discoveries into real-world impact.

The Grand Opening of the Abvion offices in the Hugo R. Kruyt Building of Utrecht University, January 2025.

Why Human Antibodies Matter

With Abvion, we are building a proteomics-based serological antibody discovery powerhouse with capabilities to capture exceptional human antibodies in all their molecular glory. Importantly, our approach analyzes antibodies fully optimized by the body’s own immune system in their final, most mature state.

Here’s why this matters:

• Real, Optimized Antibodies: Every antibody we identify is a “real” human antibody, raised against the native antigen, and proven effective and well-tolerated in at least one person.

• Sensitive, Standalone Approach: Unlike other serological methods, our platform doesn’t use orthogonal data from traditional approaches like B cell sequencing. It tackles the full complexity of serum antibodies head-on, using only minimal input materials, readily available in biobanks.

• Unmatched Precision and Accuracy: We uncover protein-derived sequences with high accuracy and confidence, including low-abundance antibodies with huge therapeutic potential.

This approach sets us apart, delivering the highest quality, true human antibodies that are out of reach for other methods. It enables us to directly tap into nature’s power to defeat complex diseases and create superior antibody therapeutics.

Using serological antibody discovery to capture human antibodies directly from blood.

Collaborating for a Healthier Future

We’re already applying our platform in multiple pilot projects, covering infectious diseases and more. We strongly believe in a collaborative approach and are working with partners in both biopharma and academia. Together, we aim to push the boundaries of human antibody discovery and develop innovative therapeutics to solve real-world problems.

Looking Ahead

Our mission is to accelerate human-derived antibody therapeutics for a healthier future. Later this year, we’ll unveil a proof-of-concept study, showcasing how our platform identifies powerful human antibodies for infectious diseases. This is just the beginning – we also see applications in autoimmunity, cancer, and beyond.

What inspires you about human antibodies or mass spectrometry in biotech? Stay tuned for the next article, where we will dive deeper into protein-level antibody discovery, and be sure to follow Abvion on LinkedIn for our latest updates.

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