Selection of optical biosensors from chemisynthetic antibody libraries

Abstract

We describe a method for creating antibodies with a fluorescent reporter integrated into the antigen-binding site. A reporter molecule was chemically linked to a hypervariable loop of an antibody repertoire displayed on phage, and this repertoire was selected for antigen binding. In one selected antibody, the fluorescence of the probe responded quantitatively to antigen binding. The method may have application for the engineering of homogeneous immunoassays.