What is the primary advantage of a functional assay over a simple binding assay for my antibody?

A simple binding assay only tells you if your antibody binds to the target. A functional assay goes a step further, demonstrating how the antibody affects the target's function. This is critical for determining if an antibody is an agonist (activates the target), an antagonist (blocks the target), or a neutralizing agent, which is essential information for therapeutic development.

How do you handle challenging membrane protein targets, such as multi-pass GPCRs or ion channels?

We specialize in challenging targets. Our platform leverages a variety of advanced technologies, including custom stable cell line development, proteoliposome reconstitution, and cutting-edge assay formats to ensure that we can successfully express, purify, and functionally assay even the most complex membrane proteins.

How do your assays compare to a general immunoassay platform, and what are the specific benefits for me as a client?

While general immunoassays can provide useful information, our specialized functional assays are specifically designed for membrane proteins, a challenging class of targets. The key benefit is that our platform gives you a clear and direct readout of therapeutic activity in a physiologically relevant context, providing a more reliable prediction of clinical outcomes.

Membrane Protein targeted Antibody Functional Assay Services

The Critical Role of Functional Assays in Membrane Protein Drug Discovery

Integral membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, and immune checkpoints, are crucial drug targets, constituting a significant portion of the currently approved therapeutics. However, developing functional antibodies that modulate these complex targets remains technically challenging due to their intricate structure and location within the lipid bilayer. The development of advanced, high-throughput functional assays is essential to overcome these hurdles, enabling the precise characterization of antibody candidates and a deeper understanding of their therapeutic potential. This is a critical step in accelerating drug discovery and validating novel therapeutic strategies.

Fig.1 Diagram illustrating the advancement of antibody-based medicines for cancer treatment. (OA Literature) Fig.1 Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies targeting immune checkpoints in cancer therapy.¹

Membrane Protein Targeted Antibody Functional Assays at Creative Biolabs

Creative Biolabs offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for membrane protein-targeted antibody functional assays. We provide clear, actionable results to help you assess antibody efficacy, potency, and mechanism of action. Our services are designed to address the specific challenges of working with membrane proteins, delivering robust and reproducible data to support your therapeutic antibody development from initial screening to lead optimization. We guarantee the quality of our results through rigorous controls and a commitment to scientific excellence.

Workflow: From Sample to Solution

Project Consultation & Experimental Design: Our expert team collaborates with you to define project goals and design a customized assay strategy. We review your provided materials and target information to select the most appropriate cell-based and biochemical assays. This step ensures the project is aligned with your specific research objectives.
Cell Line Development & Reagent Preparation: If a suitable cell line is not available, we can develop custom stable cell lines expressing your membrane protein target. We also prepare all necessary reagents, including purified ligands, secondary antibodies, and detection substrates.
Assay Execution & Data Acquisition: We perform the functional assays using our state-of-the-art platforms, including reporter gene assays, calcium flux assays, cAMP accumulation assays, and cell proliferation assays. High-throughput screening is employed to efficiently test a large number of antibody candidates.
Data Analysis & Interpretation: Acquired data is meticulously analyzed to determine key parameters such as IC5, EC50, and binding kinetics. Our team provides expert interpretation of the results, translating complex data into clear, actionable insights.
Quality Control & Reporting: Each project undergoes a strict quality control process to ensure data integrity and reproducibility. You will receive a final, comprehensive report detailing all methods, raw data, and interpreted results.

Our Service Packages

Creative Biolabs specializes in providing a variety of antibody functional assays for the most significant classes of membrane protein targets. We have developed mature and robust platforms to support your research in these critical areas, offering diverse assay formats and guaranteed reproducible outcomes.

Antibodies Targeting Immune Checkpoints
We offer specialized services for therapeutic antibodies that target immune checkpoints. These immunomodulatory antibodies can be activatory (agonistic) or inhibitory (antagonistic). Our functional assays, including T cell proliferation, cytokine production, and T cell cytotoxicity assays, are highly sensitive and reliable, providing the data needed to assess the immunomodulatory activity of your antibody candidates.	Immune Checkpoint Binding & Interaction Assays Immune Checkpoint Functional Assays Cell-based Immune Checkpoint Screening Service
Antibodies Targeting GPCRs
Creative Biolabs has combined extensive knowledge in therapeutic antibody development with multiple state-of-the-art techniques to establish a series of antibody function analysis services specifically for GPCRs. Our platforms are designed to handle the complex nature of these targets, providing diverse assay formats such as cAMP accumulation, calcium flux, and reporter gene assays to deliver compelling and reproducible outcomes for your investigations.	Custom GPCR Specific Antibody Discovery Services GPCR-targeted Functional Assay Services
Antibodies Targeting Ion Channels
Ion channels represent a large family of membrane proteins crucial for cellular signaling and homeostasis. We offer high-quality functional analysis for your antibody candidates targeting various ion channels. Our state-of-the-art technologies and years of experience ensure that we can provide accurate and reliable data on the functional modulation of these challenging targets.	Custom Ion Channel Specific Antibody Discovery Service Ion Channel-targeted Antibody Functional Characterization

Service Highlights

Diverse cell line options.
Multiple robust technology options.
An expert team with rich experience in membrane protein antibody technology research.
Mature and robust antibody functional testing platform.
Standard reports delivery.
Prediction of clinical outcome

FAQs

Q1: What is the primary advantage of a functional assay over a simple binding assay for my antibody?

A1: A simple binding assay only tells you if your antibody binds to the target. A functional assay goes a step further, demonstrating how the antibody affects the target's function. This is critical for determining if an antibody is an agonist (activates the target), an antagonist (blocks the target), or a neutralizing agent, which is essential information for therapeutic development.
Q2: How do you handle challenging membrane protein targets, such as multi-pass GPCRs or ion channels?

A2: We specialize in challenging targets. Our platform leverages a variety of advanced technologies, including custom stable cell line development, proteoliposome reconstitution, and cutting-edge assay formats to ensure that we can successfully express, purify, and functionally assay even the most complex membrane proteins.
Q3: How do your assays compare to a general immunoassay platform, and what are the specific benefits for me as a client?

A3: While general immunoassays can provide useful information, our specialized functional assays are specifically designed for membrane proteins, a challenging class of targets. The key benefit is that our platform gives you a clear and direct readout of therapeutic activity in a physiologically relevant context, providing a more reliable prediction of clinical outcomes.

Related Services

To further support your research, Creative Biolabs offers several complementary services that can be used in conjunction with our functional assays:

Antibody Discovery & Development: From hybridoma development to phage display, we can help you discover novel antibody candidates.
Stable Cell Line Development: Our custom cell line services ensure you have a reliable and consistent source of your target protein.
Immune Checkpoint Assays: For antibodies targeting immune regulatory receptors, our specialized assays can assess their immunomodulatory activity.
Binding Kinetics & Affinity Analysis: Precisely characterize the binding affinity of your antibodies to their targets using advanced biosensor technologies.

Contact Us

Creative Biolabs has developed a suite of antibody function analysis services by combining considerable expertise and experience in therapeutic antibody exploitation with a variety of cutting-edge methodologies. We provide a variety of assay formats and can give our clients the most convincing and repeatable results, giving them complete confidence for future research. For more extensive information, please contact us or send us an inquiry.

Reference

Marhelava, Katsiaryna et al. "Targeting Negative and Positive Immune Checkpoints with Monoclonal Antibodies in Therapy of Cancer." Cancers vol. 11,11 1756. 8 Nov. 2019, doi:10.3390/cancers11111756. Distributed under an Open Access License CC BY 4.0, without modification.