Affinity Maturation or Degeneration for Custom Antibody

The Affinity Maturation or Degeneration for Custom Antibody service from BiCell Scientific is designed to experimentally modify the binding affinity of custom-made or existing monoclonal antibodies. The service can be used to increase antibody affinity through maturation or reduce binding affinity through degeneration, depending on the intended research application.

BiCell Scientific uses proprietary yeast 2-hybrid and yeast display platforms to screen mutations in the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of the antibody variable domains. This approach supports antibody optimization for applications such as antibody repurposing, humanization, safety improvement and bispecific antibody binding adjustment.

Key Features

• Custom affinity maturation or degeneration of monoclonal antibodies
• Designed for custom-made or existing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies
• Uses yeast 2-hybrid and yeast display screening platforms
• Targets mutations in CDR regions of heavy and light chain Fv domains
• Suitable for full-length protein, extracellular protein or peptide antigen projects
• Can support antibody repurposing, humanization and bispecific antibody optimization

Service Workflow

The workflow begins with cloning the scFv domain from the customer’s antibody into a yeast display vector. Random mutations are introduced into the CDR1–3 regions using error-prone PCR. The resulting antibody library is screened using MACS and FACS sorting to enrich antibody clones with the desired binding profile.

Following clonal selection, selected antibody sequences can be cloned into expression vectors and expressed in HEK293 or CHO cells. The project deliverables may include sequenced Fv domains, expression vectors and purified engineered monoclonal antibody.

Typical Deliverables

• Fully sequenced Fv domains of the engineered antibody heavy and light chains
• Expression vectors for the selected engineered antibody
• 1 mg of affinity-purified engineered monoclonal antibody
• FACS-based screening data, depending on project scope

Research Applications

This service is suitable for research groups working on monoclonal antibody engineering, antibody discovery, therapeutic antibody repurposing, antibody humanization or bispecific antibody development. Affinity maturation may help improve antigen binding, while affinity degeneration can be useful when reduced binding strength is desired for a specific experimental design.