Generation of llama monoclonal antibodies against the E. Colli bama protein

This Small Business Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes
only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by
the Government. This notice is intended strictly for Market Research. The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases is conducting a market survey to determine the availability and technical
capability of qualified small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business or HUBZone small businesses capable of providing GENERATION OF LLAMA MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST THE E. COLLI BAMA PROTEIN.

Unlike most mammalian antibodies, camelid monoclonal antibodies, called vHHs or
nanobodies, generated in llama, camel or alpaca consist of a single heavy chain. In
recent years, nanobodies have been increasingly used in structural studies and in
biotechnological and pharmaceutical applications. Nanobodies are small in size and can access novel and difficult-to-reach protein epitopes that cannot be accessed by traditional antibodies. Access to smaller epitopes often leads to receptor/active-site neutralization and enzyme inhibition. A lot of research published to date demonstrates remarkable results using nanobodies against flexible multi-domain proteins, large protein complexes and membrane proteins. While the results and applications have been exceptional, the generation of nanobodies is still rather expensive.

Unlike conventional antibodies, the very nature of nanobodies makes them ideal for
expression in bacteria. In our case, we intend to generate a nanobody against an
essential component of a multi-protein outer membrane complex in E. coli called the Bam (barrel assembly machinery) complex. This complex is essential for the biogenesis of outer membrane proteins and hence is critical for cell viability. As an essential factor the Bam complex is a potential target for the development of novel antibiotics. To date, no simple and reliable method of inactivating the Bam complex and studying the subsequent effects on cellular processes has been developed. We would like to generate a nanobody that binds effectively to a key component of the Bam complex called BamA in vivo and inactivates it. For this purpose, we need the services of a commercial vendor who specializes in llama nanobody production. We will supply the purified antigen (BamA) to the vendor who will use it to immunize a llama, generate the nanobodies, and perform screening and sequencing of the best nanobodies. At the end of the contract period, they will deliver the gene sequences of the best nanobodies against BamA to us. The gene encoding the nanobody will be cloned into an appropriate plasmid and expressed with an N-terminal signal sequence in E. coli in our laboratory.

The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industrial
Classification (NAICS) code 541990 with a size standard of 15 Million. Offerors who
are capable of providing at a minimum, fifty-one percent (51%) of the required/actual services of this solicitation. All respondents are requested to identify their firm's size and type of business. Interested firms responding to this market survey must provide (a) capability statement demonstrating their experience, skills and capability to fulfill the Government's requirements for the above. The capability statement shall be in sufficient enough detail, but not to exceed 15 pages, so that the Government can determine the experience and capability of your firm to provide the requirements above.

Your capability statement, not to exceed 15 pages, should include references.
Capability statement must be received at the address identified in this synopsis no later than 11:00 A.M. local time at designated location) on August 17, 2015.
Responses by E-MAIL WILL BE ACCEPTED and can be sent to griffin@mail.nih.gov .
This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for information solicited.

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solicitation. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s)."

Any questions regarding this announcement must be sent via email to
griffinv@mail.nih.gov  and must include solicitation NIHLM2015582 in the subject line of email.

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