High-throughput screening and selection of mammalian cells for enhanced protein production

The production of recombinant proteins for biotherapeutic use is a multibillion dollar industry, which has seen continual growth in recent years. In order to produce the best protein with minimal cost and time, selection methods are utilized during the cell line development process in order to select for the most desirable clonal cell line from a heterogeneous transfectant pool. Today, there is a vast array of potential selection methods available, which vary in cost, complexity and efficacy. This review aims to highlight cell line selection methods that exist for the isolation of high-producing clones, and also reviews techniques that can be used to predict, at a small scale, the performance of clones at large, industrially-relevant scales.