Monoclonal antibody discovery

Choosing the best monoclonal antibody discovery technology can be critically challenging and can greatly impact your project’s success. Benefit from our long-standing experience in monoclonal antibody development to get the adapted solutions to your needs. The table below establishes a comparison between the different technologies considering several relevant parameters such as time requirement, cost, possibility of identifying difficult binders, antibody developability…etc.

Phage display is a versatile in vitro selection technology which principle is based on the interaction of antibodies (or parts of antibodies such as scFv, Fabs), displayed on the surface of phages, with their cognate partners such as haptens, peptides, proteins or even membrane proteins on whole cells.

Hybridomas are immortal antibody-secreting cell lines formed by the fusion between antibody-producing cells (B-lymphocytes) and immortal myeloma cells. Each resulting hybridoma cell constitutively expresses a large amount of one highly specific monoclonal antibody (mAb). These cells are then cryopreserved for a long-lasting mAb production, permitting an access to a never-ending supply of mAb isolated from the same clone, having identical properties.

Single B-cell screening is among the newest and the most revolutionizing monoclonal antibody discovering strategies. This screening method is based on the isolation, sorting and screening of the best B-cell antibody-producing monoclones, avoiding the cell fusion and the library construction steps. Single B-cell technology integrates high throughput platforms which makes it very efficient compared to other monoclonal antibody discovery methods.

Monoclonal antibodies exist in several formats, some of them are natural such as VHH antibodies, and others are recombinant antibodies, lab engineered, such as Fab or scFv antibodies. The most common feature to these different antibodies is their small size, their high affinity and specificity towards their cognate antigens. Choose your ideal antibody format that fits with your project’s needs from our broad range of formats.

VHH antibodies (or nanobodies) are the antigen-binding fragments of heavy-chain-only antibodies, which are naturally produced by camelids and sharks. These antibody fragments are the smallest entities of the antigen-antibody interaction. Thanks to their very small size, these antibodies are highly appreciated for their capacity to target cryptic antigens which are inaccessible to bigger antibodies, such as IgGs. Moreover, their very high stability, binding affinity, and ease of expression make them a very valuable tool useful in clinical, diagnostic, research and environmental monitoring applications.

Single-chain variable fragments (scFv) are very small recombinant proteins consisting in variable regions of heavy (VH) and light (VL) chains of the antibody, which are joined together by a flexible peptide linker. These antibodies are characterized by their small size, high flexibility and solubility which facilitates their tissue penetrance and clearance. Moreover, they are appreciated for their reduced immunogenicity making them good therapeutic agents. These fragment antibodies are also easy to screen and produce which reduces their cost fees and facilitates their large-scale production in very simple systems such as E. coli.

Fabs represent the antigen-binding fragment of a full-size antibody resulting from phage display screening, recombinant synthesis, or the chemical / enzymatic digestion of a full-length antibody (such as IgG). These fragments contain the variable region of the heavy chain (VH), a variable region of the light chain (VL), a constant region of the heavy chain 1 (CH1) and a constant region of the light chain (CL) of an IgG. Thanks to their small size, these antibody fragments are used in several therapeutic applications and some of them received FDA approval for use as antivenom/ antidotes. Moreover, they are used in research and diagnostic applications.

Take advantage from our large array of species to increase your chances to find the appropriate monoclonal antibodies
fitting with your project needs.

Human monoclonal antibodies are the most straightforward way to clinics and the best biological tools to treat several human diseases. Many human monoclonal antibodies were approved by the FDA for clinical uses in the treatment of several diseases, such as cancer, immune diseases and many inflammatory diseases. Moreover, using human monoclonal antibodies helps bypassing immunogenicity issues resulting from using antibodies from xenogeneic sources, thus reducing risks of immune rejection.

Certain animal models can be chosen for their short process of immunization reducing time and cost of antibody screening such as mice. On the other hand, other animals are best for large scale antibody production and for their higher binding affinity such as rabbits that can be used in research applications. Some antibodies of other animal species such as dog, cat, equine antibodies are also recommended for veterinary applications.

Cease your chance to get your perfect monoclonal antibody to any type of target. This includes antibodies against smaller molecules such as haptens, peptides, glycans, or bigger molecules such as proteins, membrane proteins, antibodies or even antibodies directed against drugs. Generating antibodies against specific targets requires this target to be big enough to be immunogenic. Benefit from our tips and techniques rendering non-immunogenic molecules immunogenic and from our assistance to help you in your process of developing monoclonal antibodies against the antigen of your choice.