Custom Antibody Solutions Hub
Why Bio-Rad
Outsourcing custom antibody generation to an experienced partner lets your team move faster without diverting resources from your core research. Our custom recombinant antibody service is built to deliver highly specific, well-characterized antibodies tailored to your target and application, with the consistency your program depends on for the long term.
We hold ourselves to the same standard for every customer—from a single academic lab to the world's largest pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies—guiding you through each step of defining and ordering a custom antibody service to help you reach the best possible outcome.
Sources. Peer-reviewed work using HuCAL® antibodies and technology — including studies authored at Johnson & Johnson and Biogen — is collected in our HuCAL reference list. For recent examples, Sanofi scientists used HuCAL-derived antibodies for a variant-specific SARS-CoV-2 spike ELISA (Vaccines, 2025), and scientists at Mayo Clinic and Thermo Fisher Scientific used HuCAL-derived anti-idiotypic antibodies in automated anti-drug antibody assays (The AAPS Journal, 2024).
Custom Antibody Solutions
Find the Right Custom Antibody Solution for Your Research, Discovery, or Development Program
Whether you're discovering a therapeutic antibody candidate, developing bioanalytical reagents, targeting a challenging antigen, or advancing an innovative therapeutic pipeline, Bio-Rad offers proven antibody discovery, engineering, and production solutions to support your goals. Tell us about your project, and we'll help identify the technology, service, or partnership model best suited to your needs.
What are you trying to achieve?
Start With Your Goal
How Can We Help You Today?
Select the goal that matches your project. We deliver Fab or full-length immunoglobulin with a choice of isotypes.
Your campaigns stall when other discovery approaches don't work well with difficult or highly conserved targets.
- Deliverables: Developable and diverse antibody candidate leads with desired affinity and cross-reactivity
- Timeline: As fast as 7 weeks
- Why this fits: Phage library with 220 billion unique sequences, ~96% functional rate, to deliver sub-nanomolar affinity binders and validated in vitro functionality
You need antibody pairs for immunoassays—PK/ADA, IVD research, or QC/batch-release testing.
- Deliverables: Fit-for-purpose bioanalytical antibodies
- Timeline: 5–8 weeks
- Why this fits: Purpose-built for bioanalytical work, plus SpyTag/SpyCatcher for fast prototyping of various antibody formats
Your target is a peptide, membrane protein, enzyme active site, or complex that's historically hard to raise antibodies against.
- Deliverables: Highly specific antibodies for your desired research purpose
- Timeline: 5–8 weeks
- Why this fits: 220-billion-sequence library plus proprietary SpyDisplay reach targets conventional immunization often can't
You already have an antibody (or one we've generated for you) but need it in a new format, or conjugated for detection.
- Deliverables: Purified formats per your request across human IgG1-4, IgA, IgM, and mouse/rabbit backbones
- Timeline: Conjugation in under an hour; delivery timeline on quote
- Why this fits: Fast, irreversible, and site-specific covalent conjugation enables various assays
You need a well-characterized antibody to study a new protein, pathway, or interaction in your own research.
- Deliverables: Recombinant, sequence-defined monoclonal antibody at high affinity and specificity
- Timeline: 5–8 weeks
- Why this fits: A broad range of antigen types is compatible with our phage display platform.
You rely on an antibody already and need consistent, large-scale production you can plan around.
- Deliverables: Purified and quality verified catalog or previously custom-generated antibodies
- Timeline: Custom quote based on volume
- Why this fits: Keeps your assay or process on the same reagent long-term, without re-validation risk
Technology Platforms Supporting Your Project
Proven platforms supporting antibody discovery, engineering, and reagent development.
Bio-Rad offers a portfolio of proprietary antibody technologies and specialist services designed to support antibody discovery, engineering, and reagent development. Each platform provides unique advantages depending on the target, application, and project objectives.
Explore the summaries below for an overview of our capabilities, or visit the dedicated technology pages for detailed technical information, case studies, and project-specific guidance.
Delivers
Recombinant, sequence-defined monoclonal antibody at high affinity and specificity
Supports
Research tools, structural biology, difficult targets
Delivers
Fit-for-purpose bioanalytical antibodies; highly specific antibodies for difficult targets; engineered formats including Fc mutations
Supports
Bioanalytical assays (PK/ADA, IVD research, QC/batch release), structural biology, difficult targets
Delivers
Developable and diverse antibody candidate leads with desired affinity and cross-reactivity
Supports
Therapeutic antibody discovery and optimization
Delivers
Purified formats per your request across human IgG1-4, IgA, IgM, and mouse/rabbit backbones
Supports
Reformatting, labeling, and multiplexing an existing antibody
Delivers
Purified and quality verified catalog or previously custom-generated antibodies
Supports
Long-term supply of an antibody you already use
Send us your target, species, and end use.
A technical specialist will recommend a route and a realistic timeline.
Start Your Project InquiryFAQs
Questions we're asked most
HuCAL, Pioneer Select, and Pioneer Antibody Discovery Platform all use phage display—what's actually different?
While all three offerings use phage display, they are designed for different goals. HuCAL is our established platform for routine research and bioanalytical antibody generation, providing a fast and reliable route to fully human tool antibodies. Pioneer Select applies Bio-Rad's next-generation Pioneer library and SpyDisplay technology to deliver high-affinity antibodies for demanding bioanalytical, clinical monitoring, research, and IVD development applications, with an optional pathway for future therapeutic development. Pioneer Antibody Discovery Platform is our full therapeutic antibody discovery platform to identify developable and functional lead candidates for drug research and development.
Do I need SpyTag/SpyCatcher, or is it only relevant once I already have an antibody?
SpyTag/SpyCatcher is about format and labeling. So, it's typically the second step after you already have (or we've generated) a working antibody. It lets you conjugate or reformat that antibody without subcloning. Learn more about SpyTag/SpyCatcher here.
What if my target has been difficult to raise antibodies against with other providers?
That's exactly what Bio-Rad's phage display-based platforms are good at. Unlike immunization-based approaches, phage display is not constrained by immune tolerance and can be highly effective for challenging antigens, including conserved proteins, toxic targets, peptides, membrane proteins, active sites in enzymes, and multi-protein complexes. Our CysDisplay and SpyDisplay selection chemistries are also designed so that high-affinity binders are not lost during selection, which can be a limitation of conventional phage display. Depending on your applications and requirements, we will recommend a suitable platform for you.
How does this compare with a hybridoma-based custom antibody service?
Hybridoma and other immunization-based services depend on an animal mounting a response to your antigen, which constrains them on conserved, toxic, and non-immunogenic targets, and typically runs to several months. Hybridoma lines can also drift genetically or carry additional heavy or light chains, which shows up later as batch-to-batch variability. Because our platforms select in vitro against your target, the antibody sequence is known from the outset and can be reproduced indefinitely to the same specification. We look at the evidence behind this in more detail in Making the Switch to Non-Animal Derived Antibodies.
Do I own the antibody sequence and any resulting IP?
Yes, the antibody sequence can be provided to you upon request, allowing you to produce the antibody for your internal permitted use. You may also use the sequence in patent claims for permitted applications. Therapeutic applications require a separate license, and ownership and use rights remain subject to the applicable Bio-Rad terms and conditions. Please contact Bio-Rad for details regarding specific IP and licensing arrangements.
I'm not sure which application matches my project—what should I do?
Use the goal selector at the top of this page, or send us your target, species, and end use (research, in vitro diagnostic development, or therapeutic candidate discovery) through Contact a Specialist below—a technical specialist will recommend a platform directly.
Speak to the Technical Specialist Who Would Run Your Project
Share your target and what the antibody needs to achieve, and we can talk through the options that fit—with no obligation to proceed.