# Development of the next generation antibody technologies and their applications

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $391,250

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Antibodies (immunoglobulins) are among the most widely used biologics for life science research and have
been the major driving force for disease diagnosis and therapeutics. Despite enormous efforts in the past,
high-quality research antibodies remain sparse, which have led to the poor reproducibility of numerous
scientific research papers and the immense costs associated with misleading literature. Major challenges
include poor quality of antibodies (e.g., low affinity and specificity), batch-to-batch variations, and difficulties in
production, bioengineering, manufacturing and storage. There is a pressing need to develop new technological
platforms to address these challenges and to provide new applications in biomedical research and drug
therapeutics.
Camelid single-chain VHH antibodies or Nanobodies (Nbs) are a compelling new class of antibodies
characterized by exceptionally high solubility and thermostability. We have recently developed a robust
pipeline for the discovery and characterization of high-quality antigen-specific Nb repertoires. This pipeline has
been extensively tested and optimized for a dozen of antigens with different structures and immune responses.
With this approach, a large cohort of high-quality conformational Nb binders can be identified.
Here we propose to developing innovative integrative technologies to revolutionize Nb discovery and
characterization. In parallel, we are keen to apply these methods and reagents to enable new biomedical
discoveries and therapeutics.
Development of the next generation Nb platform technologies will offer numerous exciting new possibilities in
biomedical research, disease diagnosis and therapeutics.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10026996
- **Project number:** 1R35GM137905-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Yi Shi
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $391,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-10 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10026996

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10026996, Development of the next generation antibody technologies and their applications (1R35GM137905-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10026996. Licensed CC0.

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