EuroMAbNet: European Monoclonal Antibodies Network

Members

Vladka Čurin Šerbec

Name of the laboratory

Members of the laboratory

Head

Vladka Čurin Šerbec vladka.curin@ztm.si

Research Personnel

Maja Černilec maja.cernilec@ztm.si

Danijela Fabjan danijela.fabjan@ztm.si

Katrina Hartman katrina.hartman@ztm.si

Valerija Kovač valerija.kovac@ztm.si

Petra Kern petra.kern@ztm.si

Boštjan Smrekar bostjan.smrekar@ztm.si

Maja Svetličič maja.svetlicic@ztm.si

Laboratory Engineers

Melita Gracar melita.gracar@ztm.si

Laboratory activity

Center for the Production of Diagnostic Reagents and for Research (CPDRR) was established three decades ago. Due to decline in in-house production of diagnostic reagents, the center was renamed in 2021 to Centre for Immunology and Development.

One of the main activities of the center was the production of diagnostic reagents for blood grouping under GMP, based on mouse monoclonal antibodies, which were developed, validated, registered (and later licensed) by the center. Besides production, the center had strong collaborations with pharmaceutical industry in Slovenia and abroad (development of diagnostic tools, based on polyclonal antibodies for quality control, development of panels of monoclonal antibodies »à la carte«, know-how; nine projects and scientific elaborates for the industry so far). All the time the center has been involved in research activities in biomedical field in Slovenia and internationally with monoclonal antibodies as one of the main research lines (eleven research projects and twelve PhDs were ran so far). We had our own animal facility (with permanent permission of appropriate veterinary authority), but since 2021 we have been conducting immunizations at animal facilities of our project partners. We develop and validate in-house diagnostic tests for determining immunoglobulins or other proteins and have recombinant antibody/protein facilities.

We are also an important partner of the University of Ljubljana, teaching students about theoretical and practical aspects of monoclonal antibody production and their use in research, diagnostics and in therapy on graduate and postgraduate levels.

Research activity

A number of monoclonal antibodies were developed, validated, produced, licensed and patented by the center. Besides monoclonal antibodies against antigens of the blood group system AB0, they are directed against cytokines (TNF, p55, p75, MIF), potential new tumor markers and prion protein and its truncated form. In the last case, a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies were developed in order to: 1) prepare a new generation of diagnostic kit, which was proposed to the EU Commission; 2) study the pathogenesis of the disease; 3) C-terminally truncated form of prion protein, PrP226*/shed PrP, was first described with the help of one of our monoclonal antibodies. In last years, there is a debate about its involvement in neurodegenerative diseases, especially in Alzheimer's disease. Besides development and validation of »in-house« immunological tests for IgA, anti-IgA and IgG determination, which are used in blood bank and diagnostic labs, our group is also developing tools for fully human monoclonal antibody production from immunised donors. A part of our activities is dedicated to recombinant Ab technology development with the main purpose to use the rAb as antigen binding domains in cell therapeutics such as adopted T-cells and stem cells. We are also working in plasma quality and biobanking of healthy blood donor samples.

Techniques available

• protein/antigen expression and purification
• mouse monoclonal antibody production
• polyclonal antibody production
• recombinant antibody production and expression in non-immune (stem) cells
• antibody characterisation (western blot, dot blot, ELISA, flow cytometry and cell sorting, immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, variable-region DNA sequencing)
• monoclonal antibody purification (HPLC, including adaptation to serum-free media)
• monoclonal antibody fragmentation
• production under GLP
• development and validation of ELISA tests
• recombinant Ab technologies: rDNA, rRNA, rAb, CAR-T technology

Publications (2021-present)

• BABIČ, Davor, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka, JOVCHEVSKA, Ivana. Nanotelesa : alternativa klasičnim monoklonskim protitelesom = Nanobodies : an alternative to conventional monoclonal antibodies. Farmacevtski vestnik : strokovno glasilo slovenske farmacije. Mar. 2026, vol. 77, iss. 1, p. 63-73. ISSN 0014-8229. https://www.sfd.si/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/babic.pdf.
• KERN, Petra, KOLENC, Ana, KOVAČ, Valerija, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka. Optimization of a versatile cell ELISA for detection of antibodies against membrane protein BCMA. Journal of immunological methods. 2026, vol. 547, iss. [article no.] 114024, p. 1-10. ISSN 1872-7905. DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2025.114024.
• SONG, Feizhi, KOVAČ, Valerija, MOHAMMADI, Behnam, PIPPI, Josephine E., ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka, GLATZEL, Markus, ALTMEPPEN, Hermann C. Proteolytic shedding of the prion protein : uncovering "new" biological implications of a conserved cleavage event. Neural Regeneration Research. 2026, vol. 21, iss. 6, p. 2329-2330. ISSN 1673-5374. DOI: 10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-25-00013.
• SONG, Feizhi, KOVAČ, Valerija, MOHAMMADI, Behnam, LITTAU, Jessica L., SCHARFENBERG, Franka, MATAMOROS ANGLES, Andreu, VANNI, Ilaria, SHAFIQ, Mohsin, ORGE, Leonor, GALLICIOTTI, Giovanna, ČERNILEC, Maja, PRETNAR-HARTMAN, Katrina, ŠMID, Lojze, BRESJANAC, Mara, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka. Cleavage site-directed antibodies reveal the prion protein in humans is shed by ADAM10 at Y226 and associates with misfolded protein deposits in neurodegenerative diseases. Acta neuropathologica. Jul. 2024, vol. 148, iss. 1, [article no.] 2, p. 1-33. ISSN 1432-0533. DOI: 10.1007/s00401-024-02763-5.
• OMEJEC, Sandra, TOMPA, Manuela, KOVAČ, Valerija, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka. Optimizing the method for expressing human monoclonal antibodies from a single peripheral blood cell from vaccinated donors. Journal of immunological methods. 2024, vol. 534, iss. [article no.] 113747, p. 1-8. ISSN 1872-7905. DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2024.113747.
• ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka, ČERNILEC, Maja, KOVAČ, Valerija, LAMPREHT, Natalija, STANIŠIĆ, Slavica, REŽEN, Tadeja. Predstavitev projekta Interreg C3B : čezmejna platforma za učinkovito upravljanje biobank. Isis : glasilo Zdravniške zbornice Slovenije. dec. 2023, vol. 32, iss. 12, p. 28-29. ISSN 1318-0193.
• ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka, ČERNILEC, Maja, REŽEN, Tadeja, NAHTIGAL, Katarina. Projekt Interreg : čezmejna platforma za učinkovito upravljanje biobank. NOVIS : novice, obvestila, vesti, informacije združenja. 2023, vol. 50, iss. 1/2, p. 46-48. ISSN 1580-4917.
• KOVAČ, Valerija, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka. Prion protein : the molecule of many forms and faces. International journal of molecular sciences. 2022, vol. 23, iss. 3, p. 1-20. ISSN 1422-0067. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031232.
• ŠELB, Julij, RIJAVEC, Matija, ERŽEN, Renato, ZIDARN, Mihaela, KOPAČ, Peter, ŠKERGET, Matevž, BAJROVIĆ, Nisera, DEMŠAR LUZAR, Ajda, PARK, Young Hwan, LIU, Yihui, ČURIN-ŠERBEC, Vladka, ZVER, Samo, KOŠNIK, Mitja, LYONS, Jonathan J., KOROŠEC, Peter. Routine KIT p.D816V screening identifies clonal mast cell disease in Hymenoptera allergic patients regularly missed using baseline tryptase levels alone. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Aug. 2021, vol. 148, iss. 2, p. 621-626.e7. ISSN 1097-6825. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.02.043.