Alpaca VHH Antibody Discovery Service

VHH antibodies (also known as nanobodies, single domain antibodies, or sdAbs) have been used in diagnostics, especially imaging, therapeutics (therapeutic antibodies, bispecific antibodies, CAR T, and ADCs), manufacturing, and research reagents. VHH antibodies differ from other conventional antibody formats in their unique size characteristics, intrinsic stability, solubility, easy tailoring into pluripotent constructs, recognition of rare or concealed epitopes, the ease and speed of drug discovery, and the ease of manufacture.

Alpha Lifetech Inc. is recognized as a leader in single-domain antibody discovery. Alpha Lifetech Inc. has developed proprietary procedures for nanobody discovery. Our optimized library construction and screening processes with phage display technology ensure the successful isolation of high-affinity alpaca nano-bodies within a short period of time. We have succeeded in producing multiple positive clones for a variety of antigens, ranging from large protein molecules to small haptens, many binding agents have subnanomolar affinities measured by ELISA.

In addition to conventional IgG, Alpaca produces a single-chain functional antibody which is capable of antigen binding sometimes called VHH antibodies. These antibodies consist solely of heavy chains and lack lightweight chains and functional domains CH1 and CH4. These so-called heavy-chain antibodies are used in the development of single-domain antibodies.

Alpaca VHH Antibody Library Discovery Service Background

The single domain nature of these antibodies provides unique advantageous that sets them apart for biotechnology applications. Some of these advantages include,

a) Stability at high temperatures & pH.

b) VHHs can recognize antigenic sites that are normally not recognized by conventional antibodies.

c) Their small molecular size helps with rapid tissue penetration and labeling applications, including crossing the blood-brain barrier.

d) Less expensive for large-scale production.

Alpaca VHH Antibody Library Discovery Service