Monoclonal antibodies have long been powerful tools for basic research as well as for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Traditionally, researchers obtained such antibodies from rodents using the technique pioneered by Nobel Prize-winners Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein in the mid-1970s (Nature, 256:495-97,1975). In this approach, researchers first collect antibody-producing cells from mice exposed to an antigen of interest and fuse them to myeloma cells, forming so-called hybrid-omas that can survive for a long time in culture. By screening single hybrid cells for those that produce the antibody of interest, researchers can develop a cell line generating virtually unlimited amounts of highly specific antibodies.
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