Starting with existing antibodies, optimization is aimed at improving desired biological properties such as binding affinity, expressibility, or developability. We use several complementary techniques to introduce targeted diversity into the antibody sequence. Our techniques include in vivo antibody evolution via inducible hypermutation in CDR regions, heavy chain or light chain shuffling using pre-made human heavy chain or light chain libraries, respectively. Yeast clones expressing antibodies with desired attributes will be isolated by FACS followed by individual clone validation. The process typically takes 6 to 8 weeks and is designed to turn lead antibodies into best in class molecules.
We are able to improve the following properties:
• Specificity: Increase target binding while reducing unwanted off-target binding
• Affinity maturation: Increase binding to the low picomolar range
• Expressibility: Select well-expressing and correctly folded antibody candidates
• Species cross-reactivity: Increase affinity to orthologous targets from other species e.g. murine to facilitate animal studies