Antibody Development and
Production Services

Overview

Antibodies are indispensable research tools that have enabled researchers across diverse scientific fields to specify, identify, locate and/or quantify their protein targets. As an award-winning custom antibody supplier with over 14,000 monoclonal and 110,000 polyclonal antibodies generated to date, GenScript offers comprehensive antibody development and production services. From antigen design through to custom antibody generation, our expert scientists and talented technical support team have got you covered all the way. On top of it, GenScript houses all rodents and rabbits for antibody generation in an OLAW and AAALAC internationally accredited animal facility.

Let Our Numbers Speak

Service Details

General Workflow of Antibody Development

Antigen
preparation

• OptimumAntigen™ Antigen Design tool
• Immunogen synthesis

Animal
Immunization

• Adjuvant Library
• Multiple animal species
• 6000m² facility
• OLAW and AAALAC internationally accredited

Antibody
Screening

• Experienced hybridoma technique platform
• MonoRab™ B Cell Cloning and Beacon Single B Cell Sorting

Antibody
Production

• Affinity purification
• Roller bottle and ascites antibody production
• Antibody sequencing
• Large-scale antibody production

Applications

What is your experiment goal? Check the related antibody services GenScript could provide!

Resources

• White Papers
  

  The Reagent Antibody Service Handbook

  A handbook chapter with detailed services for antibody development and production from antigen design through to custom antibody generation

  Free Download

  

  White Paper Series on Antibody Generation

  Learn about antibody generation and the differences between modern antibody production methods

  Free Download

  

  MonoRab™ White Paper

  Learn all about the extraordinary specificity & affinity of rabbit mAbs

  Free Download

  

  GenSmart™ Variable Domain Sequence Analyzer ^New

  Free Tool to Analyzer Your Antibody Sequence and Structure

  Free Download
• Featured video | Learn about how our antibody services can help accelerate your drug discovery process
  How our different optimized antibody platforms can benefit your drug discovery process from start to finish?

  Dr. Pei Liu

  Senior Scientist at GenScript Reagent Antibody Services

  More Webinars Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you make a high-quality antibody?

  A quality antibody is one that bears the appropriate sensitivity and specificity best suited for your target experimental assay. Not all antibodies work across a wide range of applications because each application has different performance specifications. For example, antibodies used in Western blots recognize denatured, linearized protein antigens, while flow cytometry, sandwich ELISA, IF, and functional assays all require antibodies that recognize the natural, folded shape of the protein.

  As you begin your quest to generate a custom antibody that is best suited for your research needs, do ask yourself these basic questions:

  • What research application(s) am I planning to this custom antibody in?
  • Is a polyclonal or monoclonal antibody better suited for my assay?
  • Where is my protein/epitope of interest located?
  • Is the epitope unique or common, linear or conformational, buried or surface exposed? Is it subject to post translational modifications?

  

  Being clear on the answers to such questions will ensure that you begin your antibody generation process under optimal conditions, and ultimately maximize your success at generating your desired antibody.

• Should I use a monoclonal antibody or polyclonal antibody?

  Both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have their own advantages and disadvantages, making them useful for different research applications.

  Polyclonal Antibodies

  Polyclonal antibodies (pAbs) are comprised of a mixed population of antibodies and are therefore capable of recognizing multiple epitopes on any one antigen.

  Advantages:

  • Can help to increase the signal produced by the target protein as the antibody will bind to more than one epitope.
  • More tolerant of minor changes in the antigen, e.g. polymorphism, heterogeneity of glycosylation, or slight denaturation.
  • Useful when the nature of the antigen is unknown.
  • More robust detection due to multiple epitopes.
  • Generally more stable, quick and inexpensive to produce compared to mAbs.

  Disadvantages:

  • Prone to batch-to-batch variability.
  • Susceptible to cross-reactivity with immunogen due to recognition of multiple epitopes.

  Monoclonal Antibodies

  Compared to pAbs, mAbs are more specific because they stem from a single antibody clone and thus recognize a single epitope on an antigen.

  Advantages:

  • Hybridoma cell lines provide a way to produce unlimited quantities of homogenous, highly specific mAbs.
  • If conditions are kept constant, experiments using mAbs can be highly reproducible.
  • All mAb batches will be identical and specific to just one epitope, which is a critical advantage when manufacturing procedures must be standardized e.g. clinical tests and therapeutic treatments.
  • High specificity, as well as low background noise and cross-reactivity ensures high mAb efficiency and reproducibility in experimental procedures (western blot/IP, affinity purification, ELISA, mass spectrometry etc.).
  • Specific antibody characteristics can be identified and selected for. For example, sensitivity requirements and cross-reactivity levels can be specified and monoclonal antibodies screened to identify any cell lines exhibiting the required characteristics.

  Disadvantages:

  • mAbs may be too specific (e.g. less likely to detect across a range of species).
  • More vulnerable to the loss of epitope through chemical treatment of the antigen than polyclonal antibodies. This can be offset by pooling two or more monoclonal antibodies to the same antigen.
  • Compared to pAbs, mAbs are more expensive and take longer to produce.
• What types of antigens an be used for antibody development?

  The antigens can be grouped into seven general categories:

  • Synthetic peptides (<20 aa) and please refer to our Peptide-Antigen Database
  • Recombinant protein fragments or full length proteins
  • Native proteins purified directly from its natural source
  • Whole cells
  • DNA vaccine
  • Small molecule
  • Antibody (Anti-idiotype antibody)

  Each of these categories has different strengths and weaknesses and it is important to review which type of antigen is most suited for your antibody generation project.

• How to modify a reagent antibody to a potential therapeutic antibody for human diseases?

  The antigens can be grouped into seven general categories:

  • Therapeutic antibodies are generally utilized for neutralization to block the pathophysiological function of their target molecules in human signaling pathways.
  • Reagent antibody firstly goes through the humanization process to reduce its immunogenicity and improve its activation of the human immune system by replacing non-human antibody frameworks with human ones.
  • After humanization, affinity maturation is also an important step to proceed , by increasing the affinity between antibody and target, applying the library approach of a phage display technique.
  • With the specific modifications, the reagent antibody is turned to a potential therapeutic one and move on to next drug validation process.