Choosing the Right First Steps for Custom Monoclonal Antibodies

The antibody development process requires significant expertise and precision to generate antibodies that can catalyze breakthroughs in research, diagnostics, and therapeutic applications. Choosing the correct first steps in the process is paramount to minimize not only upfront costs but also long-term engineering costs and timelines.

Custom monoclonal antibodies offer higher specificity than polyclonal antibodies and are designed to target only one or more unique epitopes on a given antigen. This can make them more sensitive and easier to couple with antibody labels for use in ELISAs. They can also have higher affinity for an antigen, which can lead to faster capture of the protein in assays such as IP and ChIP.

There are a few different methods to produce monoclonal antibodies including hybridoma technology, phage display, and recombinant technologies. Hybridoma production uses fusion of an antigen-specific plasma B cell with immortalized myeloma cells to produce antibody-producing cells (B cells). Phage display and recombinant methods, on the other hand, utilize non-hybridoma host cells to generate B cells that can secrete high-titer monoclonal antibodies.

Custom Monoclonal Antibodies: Revolutionizing Biomedical Research

When choosing a monoclonal antibody vendor, choose one that offers an extensive portfolio of options for developing high-titer antibodies. Choose a one-stop service that provides everything from selecting an antigen to testing the antibodies in a variety of applications, including flow cytometry, western blots, and titer evaluation. Also be sure to choose a vendor that is willing and able to help troubleshoot if an antibody fails to perform as expected, as not doing so may be a sign that the antibodies have not been properly validated for the application you are using them in.