Introduction to Research & Diagnostic Antibodies

Although the MorphoSys HuCAL technology was originally designed for the development of therapeutic antibodies, it also brings tremendous advantages to the development of antibodies for use as reagents in research and diagnostics.

Hybridoma technology, the traditional way of generating custom monoclonal antibodies, is well established in these markets and for many years was the only method available to scientists. However, developing custom monoclonals in this way requires considerable time, expense, and expertise, specialized cell culture facilities, access to animals for immunization and harvesting of spleen cells. Additionally, many molecules are not immunogenic in mammals or are toxic and cannot be used as antigens.

Key benefits of recombinant monoclonal antibodies

• Speed – monoclonal antibodies can be selected and purified in just 8 weeks
• Specificity – intelligent screening protocols allow direct selection of epitope-specific antibodies, antibodies with specific cross-reactivity, or antibodies with specific affinities
• Target range – targets with poor immunogenicity in animals are generally effective antigens in vitro, where there are no species barriers
• Custom design – antibodies can be engineered genetically during the selection procedure for expression in a variety of formats and valencies, and with a range of tags or enzyme fusions for detection or labeling
• Direct selection of sandwich pairs