Emory University School of Medicine and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation researchers have devised a rapid and efficient method for generating protein sentinels of the immune system, called monoclonal antibodies, which mark and neutralize foreign invaders.

The development could potentially accelerate the traditionally challenging task of generating human antibodies, which can be used both to develop faster disease diagnostics–for instance, to test for a new flu strain shortly after it emerges–as well as safer and more effective medications, including vaccines.

Using their new method, the researchers generated more than 100 different monoclonals in less than a year, with each taking just a few weeks to produce. This is far less than the one to two years typically required to make a single monoclonal cell line.