Synthetic antibodies are affinity reagents generated entirely in vitro, thus completely eliminating animals from the production process.
Display libraries, commonly expressed in phage or yeast, can be analysed to select for desirable characteristics arising from such changes in antibody sequence.
[7] Common advantages of these molecules compared to use of the typical antibody structure include a smaller size, giving improved tissue penetration, rapid generation times of weeks compared to months for natural and recombinant antibodies and cheaper costs.
They are engineered to bind to their target proteins with high affinity and specificity and as such are a member of the synthetic antibody family.
Within diagnostics they have been utilised in applications ranging from infection[12] and cancer screening[13] to mycotoxin detection in grain samples.