Welcome to the Recombinant Antibody Network
The Recombinant Antibody Network is a consortium of highly integrated technology centers at UCSF, the University of Chicago, and the University of Toronto, unified under a common goal to generate therapeutic grade recombinant antibodies at a proteome wide scale for biology and biomedicine.
Given that over half the human proteome is not annotated and that functional antibodies are not reliably available, a complete set of validated antibodies would greatly advance all areas of biology, including cancer therapy and infectious disease control. To undertake these challenges, RAN is systematically and comprehensively profiling families of protein targets using novel, modern high-throughput in vitro technology.

Latest Publications

Mann S I; Lin Z; Tan S K; Zhu J; Widel Z X W; Bakanas I; Mansergh J P; Liu R; Kelly M J S; Wu Y; Wells J A; Therien M J; DeGrado W F
De Novo Design of Proteins That Bind Naphthalenediimides, Powerful Photooxidants with Tunable Photophysical Properties Journal Article
In: J Am Chem Soc, 2025, ISSN: 1520-5126.
@article{pmid39982408,
title = {De Novo Design of Proteins That Bind Naphthalenediimides, Powerful Photooxidants with Tunable Photophysical Properties},
author = {Samuel I Mann and Zhi Lin and Sophia K Tan and Jiaqi Zhu and Zachary X W Widel and Ian Bakanas and Jarrett P Mansergh and Rui Liu and Mark J S Kelly and Yibing Wu and James A Wells and Michael J Therien and William F DeGrado},
doi = {10.1021/jacs.4c18151},
issn = {1520-5126},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-02-01},
urldate = {2025-02-01},
journal = {J Am Chem Soc},
abstract = { protein design provides a framework to test our understanding of protein function and build proteins with cofactors and functions not found in nature. Here, we report the design of proteins designed to bind powerful photooxidants and the evaluation of the use of these proteins to generate diffusible small-molecule reactive species. Because excited-state dynamics are influenced by the dynamics and hydration of a photooxidant's environment, it was important to not only design a binding site but also to evaluate its dynamic properties. Thus, we used computational design in conjunction with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to design a protein, designated NBP (DI inding rotein), that held a naphthalenediimide (NDI), a powerful photooxidant, in a programmable molecular environment. Solution NMR confirmed the structure of the complex. We evaluated two NDI cofactors in this protein using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy to evaluate light-triggered intra- and intermolecular electron transfer function. Moreover, we demonstrated the utility of this platform to activate multiple molecular probes for protein labeling.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Gorelik M; Miersch S; Sidhu S S
Structural Survey of Antigen Recognition by Synthetic Human Antibodies Journal Article
In: Cold Spring Harb Protoc, vol. 2025, no. 2, pp. pdb.over107759, 2025, ISSN: 1559-6095.
@article{pmid38594044,
title = {Structural Survey of Antigen Recognition by Synthetic Human Antibodies},
author = {Maryna Gorelik and Shane Miersch and Sachdev S Sidhu},
doi = {10.1101/pdb.over107759},
issn = {1559-6095},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-02-01},
urldate = {2025-02-01},
journal = {Cold Spring Harb Protoc},
volume = {2025},
number = {2},
pages = {pdb.over107759},
abstract = {Synthetic antibody libraries have been used extensively to isolate and optimize antibodies. To generate these libraries, the immunological diversity and the antibody framework(s) that supports it outside of the binding regions are carefully designed/chosen to ensure favorable functional and biophysical properties. In particular, minimalist, single-framework synthetic libraries pioneered by our group have yielded a vast trove of antibodies to a broad array of antigens. Here, we review their systematic and iterative development to provide insights into the design principles that make them a powerful tool for drug discovery. In addition, the ongoing accumulation of crystal structures of antigen-binding fragment (Fab)-antigen complexes generated with synthetic antibodies enables a deepening understanding of the structural determinants of antigen recognition and usage of immunoglobulin sequence diversity, which can assist in developing new strategies for antibody and library optimization. Toward this, we also survey here the structural landscape of a comprehensive and unbiased set of 50 distinct complexes derived from these libraries and compare it to a similar set of natural antibodies with the goal of better understanding how each achieves molecular recognition and whether opportunities exist for iterative improvement of synthetic libraries. From this survey, we conclude that despite the minimalist strategies used for design of these synthetic antibody libraries, the overall structural interaction landscapes are highly similar to natural repertoires. We also found, however, some key differences that can help guide the iterative design of new synthetic libraries via the introduction of positionally tailored diversity.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Slezak T; O'Leary K M; Li J; Rohaim A; Davydova E K; Kossiakoff A A
Engineered protein G variants for multifunctional antibody-based assemblies Journal Article
In: Protein Sci, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. e70019, 2025, ISSN: 1469-896X.
@article{pmid39865354,
title = {Engineered protein G variants for multifunctional antibody-based assemblies},
author = {Tomasz Slezak and Kelly M O'Leary and Jinyang Li and Ahmed Rohaim and Elena K Davydova and Anthony A Kossiakoff},
doi = {10.1002/pro.70019},
issn = {1469-896X},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-02-01},
urldate = {2025-02-01},
journal = {Protein Sci},
volume = {34},
number = {2},
pages = {e70019},
abstract = {We have developed a portfolio of antibody-based modules that can be prefabricated as standalone units and snapped together in plug-and-play fashion to create uniquely powerful multifunctional assemblies. The basic building blocks are derived from multiple pairs of native and modified Fab scaffolds and protein G (PG) variants engineered by phage display to introduce high pair-wise specificity. The variety of possible Fab-PG pairings provides a highly orthogonal system that can be exploited to perform challenging cell biology operations in a straightforward manner. The simplest manifestation allows multiplexed antigen detection using PG variants fused to fluorescently labeled SNAP-tags. Moreover, Fabs can be readily attached to a PG-Fc dimer module which acts as the core unit to produce plug-and-play IgG-like assemblies, and the utility can be further expanded to produce bispecific analogs using the "knobs into holes" strategy. These core PG-Fc dimer modules can be made and stored in bulk to produce off-the-shelf customized IgG entities in minutes, not days or weeks by just adding a Fab with the desired antigen specificity. In another application, the bispecific modalities form the building block for fabricating potent bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), demonstrating their efficacy in cancer cell-killing assays. Additionally, the system can be adapted to include commercial antibodies as building blocks, greatly increasing the target space. Crystal structure analysis reveals that a few strategically positioned interactions engender the specificity between the Fab-PG variant pairs, requiring minimal changes to match the scaffolds for different possible combinations. This plug-and-play platform offers a user-friendly and versatile approach to enhance the functionality of antibody-based reagents in cell biology research.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Latest News
Recombinant Antibody Network Partners with Bristol Myers Squibb to Develop Novel Therapies
The Recombinant Antibody Network (RAN), a consortium comprising research groups from UC San Francisco, the…
Absolute Antibody Partners with the Recombinant Antibody Network to Facilitate Access to Engineered Recombinant Antibodies
Absolute Antibody Ltd., an industry-leading provider of recombinant antibody products and services, has announced a…
RAN to collaborate with Celgene on cancer therapeutics development
The RAN has recently signed a 3-year $25M agreement with the Celgene Corporation to develop next-generation,…