A strategic partnership between The Pirbright Institute and ProImmune aims to develop target-binding reagents that significantly accelerate research in animal health.
Ankyrons™ are small, recombinant, target binding ankyrin repeat proteins developed by ProImmune. They are directly selected in vitro from a trillion-clone library in ribosome display and, like antibodies, can bind with high affinity to almost any target.
Due to their superior properties compared to antibodies, Ankyrons™ open new avenues for scientists to study cell behaviour, offering an alternative to traditional research antibodies. The high specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility of Ankyrons™ means they can be broadly applied in biomedical science and can be targeted against all structural proteins as a cost-effective alternative to generating custom antibodies.
In this collaboration, ProImmune is aiming to establish new Ankyrons™ for a range of crucial veterinary research applications where antibodies were previously unavailable. ProImmune has already generated and provided new Ankyrons™ to Pirbright for further study and validation, including for a broad range of bovine, porcine, avian and mosquito protein targets, as well as targets for significant animal diseases including foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever - all areas that have been underserved by traditional antibody technology.
Pirbright’s Director of Research, Professor John Hammond, said: “The collaboration brings mutual benefits to address global animal health challenges. Multiple research groups across the Institute have worked with ProImmune to develop novel Ankyrons™ that address targets from across the tree of life including mammals, insects and viral proteins.”
Dr Linda Tan, Chief Scientific Officer, ProImmune, said: “Ankyron™ technology gives researchers a better handle on biology. In this collaboration we have already demonstrated that novel Ankyrons™ can be provided rapidly to dozens of targets in areas totally unaddressed by existing research tools. We believe that over time Ankyron™ technology will have a profound impact in the wider study of biology across species and the results from this collaboration are already testament to this.”
ProImmune and the Pirbright Institute hope to make significant strides in addressing global health challenges through the development of this cutting-edge research technology that will be available to researchers world-wide, studying animal physiology and disease.
