# Novel Approach to High-Throughput Identification and Characterization of Neoantigen-Specific T-Cell Receptors to Guide Immunotherapy Development.

> **NIH NIH R43** · FLEXOMICS LLC · 2020 · $399,807

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Newly developed immunotherapies have shown great promise for the management and treatment of various
types of cancer. Among these new strategies, the development of T-cell Receptor engineered T-cells (TCR T-
cells) targeting tumor specific neoantigens has arisen as a promising approach to improve efficacy, decrease
toxicity and overcome acquired resistance. However, the multiplicity of mutations in cancer and the lack of high-
throughput methods to identify neoantigen-specific TCRs is preventing the wide implementation of TCR T-cells
therapies. Flexomics is developing an integrated platform harnessing recent advances in single cell genomics,
immunoassays and microfluidics for the high-throughput characterization of antigen-specific TCRs. Our
proprietary approach is designed to identify T-cell activation in response to specific antigen exposure at single
cell level for 100,000s T-cells while simultaneously capturing phenotypic and genotypic information in the form
of expression of key marker genes and full-length TCR sequence identification. To demonstrate the feasibility of
our method we propose to: (1) track functional responses from single T-cells to cognate antigen-exposure by
measuring their cytokine secretion in our novel high-density picowell plate that allows us to co-capture 100,000s
pairs of Antigen Presenting Cell (APC) / T-cell, (2) retrieve and link TCR sequence and expression for 20
phenotypic markers to each individual T-cell thanks to our unique barcoding system, (3) demonstrate end-to-end
workflow and recapitulate previously discovered antigen-specific TCR sequence for a well characterized
neoantigen. At the end of our Phase I grant, we will have demonstrated a concrete example of how our platform
allows the screening and characterization of antigen-TCR interactions at unprecedented scale. We will also have
all processes in place to start screening other neoantigens and further refine our workflow. Screening and
discovery of neoantigen-specific T-cell response and TCR is critical to the future progress of cancer
immunotherapies. Our technology has been developed specifically to support and accelerate the development
of personalized treatments by providing a rapid and cost-effective method to identify immunogenic neoantigens
and characterize their associated antigen-specific TCRs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10007685
- **Project number:** 1R43CA250673-01
- **Recipient organization:** FLEXOMICS LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Magali Soumillon
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $399,807
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-15 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10007685

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10007685, Novel Approach to High-Throughput Identification and Characterization of Neoantigen-Specific T-Cell Receptors to Guide Immunotherapy Development. (1R43CA250673-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10007685. Licensed CC0.

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