Recombinant DNA techniques have revolutionized the isolation and production of antibodies in recent years, and rapid changes have been made. The time is now ripe to assemble in a Practical Approach volume the protocols which allow the researcher to isolate a new antibody, analyse its properties, format the right antibody molecule or fragment, and produce it in usable quantitites.

1. Construction and use of antibody gene repertoires ; 2. Affinity maturation of antibodies using phage display ; 3. Human antibody repertoires in transgenic mice: manupulation and transfer of YACs ; 4. Measuring antibody affinities in solution ; 5. Measuring antibody affinities using Bio-sensors ; 6. Analysis of human antibody sequences ; 7. Rodent to human antibodies by CDR grafting ; 8. Rodent to human antibodies by phage display ; 9. Choosing and manipulating effector functions ; 10. Secretion and purification of antibody fragments expressed in bacteria ; 11. Production of single chain Fv monomers and multimers ; 12. Expression of immunoglobulin genes in mammalian cells ; 13. In vitro linkage of antibody fragments into dimeric and multimeric forms

`This book is very useful for practising antibody engineers, providing extra information that enables them to adopt new techniques or expand into new areas. ... this is a useful and interesting resource for practising antibody engineers and I will make sure my students have access to it.' SGM Quarterly, August 1997