Improved methods for making dual-purpose antibodies

What is it about?

Bioscience Division scientists and partners at Specifica, Inc. published an article on their work to develop advanced antibodies for use in research. The paper, now available in the journal PLOS ONE, details the scientists’ method to develop antibodies and how it is an improvement on past approaches. Antibodies are known for their ability to strongly and specifically bind to targets. Researchers often link antibodies with other proteins in order to combine two functions: binding and detection. These dual-purpose antibodies are called chimeras, and the detection function can range from fluorescence to enzymatic activity to solubility, etc. However, the conditions for binding and detection are not always the same and cannot be predicted, resulting in suboptimal results, such as less binding, dimmer fluorescence, or low yield. Building on their previous work, the team describes a high-throughput method to directly select antibodies most suitable for conversion to chimeras, ultimately improving the efficiency of the selection process and creating better chimeric antibodies.

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Photo by Jonas Minden on Unsplash

Photo by Jonas Minden on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Antibodies are one of the most critical elements of our immune system. They are a key diagnostic reagent and a therapeutic agent. Methods to improve antibody functionality is important for medical countermeasures.

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