When is a miniprotein binder a better answer than an antibody?

• size: smallest (miniprotein binder); small (VHH / nanobody); large (IgG)
• expression: bacterial, high yield (miniprotein binder); bacterial or yeast (VHH / nanobody); mammalian (IgG)
• immune origin: none (miniprotein binder); camelid, humanisable (VHH / nanobody); mouse or human (IgG)
• effector function: none (miniprotein binder); optional, by fusion (VHH / nanobody); native (IgG)
• best at: reagents, diagnostics, imaging, intracellular, fusions (miniprotein binder); difficult epitopes, therapeutics (VHH / nanobody); conventional therapeutics (IgG)

No immune origin also means no humanisation step and no germline to argue about. What you gain in simplicity you give up in effector function and in half-life, both of which have to be engineered in if your application needs them.

• Research reagents, where a VHH would be overkill and a catalogue antibody does not exist for your site.
• Diagnostics and imaging, where small size and fast clearance help.
• Intracellular targets, where a small, stable, disulphide-free scaffold has a chance.
• Fusions and multimers, where a compact binding module is easier to build with.
• Hard epitopes, where a flat or shallow site gives an antibody loop little to grip.

1. Feasibility (days): We score your antigen and the site you want to engage, and return a compatibility verdict. Free.
2. Prototyping (week 1): A short scoping run on your actual target: we design the workflow it needs and size the generative campaign, so the quote reflects your target rather than an average one.
3. Generative design (weeks 2-4): Binders generated against the chosen site on a clinically precedented scaffold, under developability constraints
4. Computational triage (weeks 4-5): Filters on sequence liabilities, structure and independent re-prediction narrow the output to 50 to 200 candidates worth looking at closely
5. Molecular dynamics (weeks 5-6): The shortlist is pre-validated dynamically: we watch the complex hold, or fail to hold, before anything is expressed
6. Wet-lab validation (weeks 7-9): Best candidates expressed and tested: binding, expression, behaviour in solution

You approve each stage before the next one starts.

Ranked designed sequences with the epitope each engages; expression and stability assessment; binding data from the bench; and the full design record. The sequences and the resulting intellectual property are yours.

We design from the target, not from a library. There is no natural repertoire of miniproteins to screen: this modality only exists because the binder can be computed.

We validate. Designed miniproteins are easy to generate and easy to over-promise. Ours are expressed and tested before delivery.

Developability by design. Candidates are shaped inside the physicochemical space where clinical antibodies sit, which is narrower than the natural repertoires an immunisation campaign samples. Fewer liabilities to engineer out later, and a de-risked candidate at the point where it costs least to change.

Built for more than reagents. Miniprotein binders serve research and diagnostics first, and therapeutic programmes where size and stability are the constraint. We say which case yours is before you commit.

We will tell you when an antibody is the better answer. Effector function, a long half-life or a conventional clinical route usually mean a VHH or an IgG, and we say so at the feasibility stage.