Accelerated bioselection of monoclonal antibodies recognising integrated membrane proteins

Antibodies are one the most successful treatments for a range of human diseases, including virus and bacterial infections and cancer. They work by binding to other molecules, thereby inactivating them or allow the immune system to clear them from the blood. However, the isolation of antibodies that recognise a specific target remains challenging, significantly reducing progress, particularly for complex cell surface membrane proteins. This is because most methods to generate antibodies use purified proteins, and often these do not share the same shape as the natural protein. Our approach circumvents these issues, providing a simple, rapid and scalable approach for bioselection of lead candidate antibodies. During this project we will demonstrate our technology by generating antibodies against the two valuable targets, including a G protein coupled cell receptors (GPCRs, e.g. DRD1) and also against a cancer immune checkpoint inhibitor (e.g. PD1). Our technology will provide antibodies with many diagnostic, scientific and therapeutic applications. We aim to: (i) Use bioinformatics to produce antibody libraries with greater diversity, (ii) Demonstrate the technology to find antibodies targeting DRD1 and PD1, (iii) Characterise the new antibodies for therapeutic applications.