Technology

QVQ performs biopanning to select VHHs specific to the target of interest out of the vast number of antibodies in the immune or non-immune libraries. After production in E.coli, phages expressing a VHH, are allowed to bind antigen, which can be recombinant protein, membrane extracts, or cells. Next, after removing the unbound fraction of phages, bound phages are eluted and rescued by infecting E.coli. These outputs, enriched with binders against the antigen, can be used to produce new phages for subsequent rounds of panning.

Due to the unique format of sdAbs and QVQ’s optimized procedures, 2 rounds of panning is usually sufficient to enrich libraries for binders with high affinity. This process can be customized by applying counterselection (subjecting phages to antigen not desired as target in solution), shielding undesired epitopes with e.g. ligands or antibodies, or subjecting the phages to specific conditions (e.g. low/high pH, specific elution).

QVQ always consults with the customer to tailor the panning strategy towards the properties of the final lead molecules.