Nanobody Screening Service

Nanobodies (also known as VHH), with their small size, high stability, and strong affinity, have become ideal tools for biomedical research and drug development. Compared to traditional antibodies, nanobodies can penetrate biological barriers to reach intracellular targets, maintain functional stability in complex environments, and exhibit high specificity for their targets.

Particularly in fields such as cancer, infectious diseases, and toxin neutralization, nanobodies demonstrate exceptional diagnostic and therapeutic potential. However, traditional methods for discovering nanobodies face numerous challenges. To address these issues, developing innovative, efficient, and cost-effective nanobody discovery platforms has become a key focus of current research.

1 Product Overview

This product leverages a digital antibody library and molecular docking technology, combined with advanced tools such as MegaDock, HDock, and AlphaFold 3, to efficiently and accurately screen for high-affinity nanobodies that effectively recognize both linear and conformational epitopes of antigens.

This emerging screening technology is gradually becoming a key direction in nanobody research and holds great promise for advancing the application and development of nanobodies in the biomedical field.

2 Product Screening Workflow

2.1 Preparation of the Nanobody Library

Based on the sequence characteristics of natural nanobodies, the sequences in CDR1 and CDR2 are partially randomized, while CDR3 is completely randomized, resulting in a mutant nanobody library with 1×10⁸ unique sequences. Subsequently, each sequence is modeled in 3D using NanoNet, creating a synthetic nanobody library.

2.2 MegaDock Preliminary Docking Screening

As a preliminary screening tool, MegaDock simulates the process of nanobody recognition of linear epitopes on antigens. It enables the rapid analysis of large-scale protein interaction data through efficient docking simulations, identifying protein interaction data with significant potential. The Top 200 candidates are selected for the next round of screening.

2.3 HDock Refined Docking Screening

HDock performs a more refined screening of the preliminary results by simulating the process of nanobody recognition of conformational epitopes on antigens. Binding stability and affinity are evaluated based on absolute binding energy values, further narrowing down the selection to high-performing candidates. The Top 10 candidates are selected for the next round of analysis.

2.4 AlphaFold One-to-One Precision Analysis

In the final refined analysis, AlphaFold plays a crucial role by calculating pTM and ipTM scores. These metrics validate the reliability and biological significance of the screening results by predicting the structure of antigen-nanobody complexes and modeling their binding interfaces.

3 Deliverables