This highly readable textbook serves as a concise and engaging primer to the emerging field of antibody engineering and its various applications. It introduces readers to the basic science and molecular structure of antibodies, and explores how to characterize and engineer them. Readers will find an overview of the latest methods in antibody identification, improvement and biochemical engineering. Furthermore, alternative antibody formats and bispecific antibodies are discussed.

The book's content is based on lectures for the specializations Protein Engineering and Medical Biotechnology within the Master's curriculum in Biotechnology. The lectures have been held at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, in cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna, since 2012 and are continuously adapted to reflect the latest developments in the field.

The book addresses Master- and PhD students in biotechnology, molecular biology and immunology, and all those who are interested in antibody engineering.

Introduces readers to the essentials of rational antibody engineering and design Presents the latest methods and technologies used in antibody engineering Written by leading experts and experienced lecturers

Autorentext
Florian Rüker studied Biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria, where he also completed his PhD and postdoctoral degree (habilitation). A postdoctoral stay took him to the Molecular Biology Research Laboratory of Daiichi Pharmaceutical (Tokyo). His research is centered on antibody engineering, in particular on the engineering of antigen binding sites in the constant domains of antibodies, which has resulted in the foundation of the biotech company F-star (www.f-star.com). Florian Rüker teaches Molecular Biology, as well as Protein Engineering with a focus on Antibody Engineering, at BOKU, where he is Head of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology.

Gordana Wozniak-Knopp studied Biology at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Medical Faculty of the same University. She holds a Senior Scientist position at the Universityof Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria, where she is currently exploring novel aspects of engineering antibodies and alternative scaffolds for antigen binding, and serves as Head of the Laboratory for Innovative Immunotherapeutics at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology. Her teaching assignments include Protein Engineering with an emphasis on Antibody Engineering and Molecular Evolution, as well as Immunology and Applied Virology.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction by the editors.- Chapter 2. Antibodies A History of their Discovery and Properties.- Chapter 3. Monoclonal Antibodies and Hybridomas.- Chapter 4. Antibody Display Systems.- Chapter 5. Transgenic Animals for the Generation of Human Antibodies.- Chapter 6. Applications of Antibodies in Therapy, Diagnosis & Science.- Chapter 7. Bispecific antibodies.- Chapter 8. Antibody-Drug Conjugates.- Chapter 9. Alternative Binding Scaffolds multipurpose binders for applications in basic research and therapy.- Chapter 10: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) redirected T cells.- Chapter 11. Improvement of Key Characteristics of Antibodies.- Chapter 12. Engineering therapeutic antibodies for development.- Chapter 13. Eukaryotic expression systems for upstream pro-cessing of monoclonal antibodies.- Chapter 14. Antibody Validation.