Binder Discovery

Key capabilities

Accelerate AI Binder Validation with Real-Time Kinetics:

Gator BLI delivers label-free, real-time binding data to validate AI-predicted binders quickly and accurately.

Bridge In Silico to In Vitro with High Throughput:

Its plate-based, automation-friendly format allows for rapid screening of AI-generated candidates, even from cell-free expression media.

Close the Loop with Real-Time Kinetics as Algorithm Feedback:

High sensitivity to fast-on/fast-off interactions ensures that valuable leads aren’t missed, powering smarter design iterations.

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AI-driven binder design is transforming how researchers identify and optimize protein binders for use in therapeutics discovery. Machine learning algorithms, large-scale omics data, and structural bioinformatics all enable you to predict high-affinity interactions far more efficiently than ever before. Machine learning algorithms can design antibodies, nanobodies, peptides, aptamers and other synthetic scaffolds with specificity to your target of interest, giving you a head start in developing targeted therapies for cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. Unlike random screens, AI lets you perform structure-based drug design, allowing for epitope-specific binder development for neutralizing antibodies and combination therapies that further enhance the effectiveness of the latest generation of therapeutics.

The primary limitation of AI is that it needs feedback in order to refine its algorithm. Many techniques for measuring binding kinetics aren’t high throughput, and the high false-positive rates can make the transition from in silico prediction models to in vitro testing seem like an endless swamp of negative results and useless data. Moreover, high throughput approaches often lack the sensitivity to capture fast-on/fast-off interactions that often serve as a start point of later optimization, and without accurate kinetics at scale it’s easy to miss out on a great candidate. Gator Bio’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) platform is the key to feeding your algorithm with real binding data at speed. Gator BLI provides a rapid, label-free approach to obtain binding affinity (K_D), specificity, and off-rate (k_d) measurements in real time. Its plate-based format makes it easy to automate, and its high sensitivity and crude sample compatibility make it ideal for quickly triaging AI-designed candidates, including crude samples from cell-free expression media. With Gator BLI, researchers can rapidly characterize binder-target interactions, iterate designs with real-time feedback, and prioritize leads with the strongest therapeutic potential. With Gator BLI, AI-driven discovery pipelines can move with the speed and precision you designed them to have.

Key capabilities

Accelerate Functional Screening in Cell-Free Workflows:

Gator BLI delivers real-time, label-free kinetic analysis directly from crude cell-free expression lysates, ideal for high-throughput workflows from ML or directed evolution.

Maximize Insight with Minimal Sample:

Designed for small-volume, high-cost samples, Gator BLI enables rapid assessment of expression quality, affinity, and stability without purification.

Compatible Probes for Versatile Validation:

Gator’s Strep-tactin XT and VHH biosensors make it easy to validate and screen newly expressed proteins, accelerating discovery and reducing turnaround time.

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Cell-free expression is the method of choice for rapidly creating proteins from today’s high-throughput methods like machine learning algorithms, directed evolution, and library screening. Cell free expression allows you to create hundreds of different proteins at the same time, allowing you to perform functional assays without the time-consuming constraints of cellular expression. Cell-free expression allows researchers to observe protein-protein interactions, enzyme kinetics, and binding dynamics more quickly than ever before.

Cell-free expression allows researchers to create any protein or peptide they want in a matter of minutes, but that comes at a price – the tradeoff is small volume and high cost. When costs are high, evaluating expression quality, functionality, and binding properties of the proteins produced through these cell-free systems is a top priority, and many techniques aren’t up to the task. Often, these tools are low-throughput, require purification steps, or fail to deliver real-time kinetic data.

Gator Bio’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) platform allows you to obtain real-time, label-free measurements as part of cell-free expression workflows. Take advantage of Gator’s Strep-Tactin XT or VHH probes to validate expression and measure their binding interactions directly from crude lysates. With Gator BLI, researchers gain immediate insight into the affinity, specificity, and stability of expressed proteins, empowering faster iteration and decision-making in both research and preclinical applications.

Key capabilities

Quantify and Qualify in One Assay:

Gator BLI simultaneously measures expression levels and binding kinetics in real-time, even in crude samples.

Speed Up Screening with High Throughput:

Quickly assess large clone libraries using automation-ready workflows and minimal sample volumes.

Make Confident Early Decisions:

Generate rich, reproducible data on affinity, specificity, and stability to identify the strongest candidates faster.

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Therapeutic antibodies, recombinant proteins, and other biologics all need to be biologically expressed. This means that choosing the right Hybridoma or CHO clone to express them is the first step in therapeutics development. You need to know the total amount of antibody expressed in a crude matrix, which rules out the majority of protein characterization techniques. In addition to expression titer, the various measures of functional activity (binding affinity, on/off rate kinetics, potency assays, and expression levels) are also equally essential. By assigning real numbers to these parameters, you can differentiate promising candidates from less viable ones.

For teams working in from a hybridoma screening, synthetic biology, or antibody engineering, a data-driven approach to clone selection is the key to downstream success. 

Many labs struggle with clone selection due to inefficient screening workflows, low-throughput assays, and assays that don’t give a complete picture of the binding kinetics and potency of the product. Moreover, with today’s variety of expression formats, it’s often difficult to troubleshoot when things go wrong when you only have endpoint results after several hours of hands-on labor. Gator’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) platform streamlines clone selection by enabling real-time, label-free screening of quantity and quality characteristics in a single assay. Gator BLI also allows you to quantitate your antibody of interest directly from many kinds of crude samples, including cell culture supernatants, even down to as low as 20 ng/ml. Gator’s high-throughput systems allow you to rapidly evaluate binding kinetics, expression levels, and specificity across large clone libraries with minimal sample prep. With low sample consumption, consistent performance, low %CV, and automation-ready formats, Gator BLI helps labs make confident, early-stage decisions that drive development forward.

Key capabilities

High-Throughput Epitope Binning Made Easy:

Perform label-free, parallel binding assays with minimal hands-on time to map binding sites across large antibody panels.

Flexible Tools for Any Lab:

From 12×12 bins on the 8-channel Gator Prime to full 32×32 matrices on the 32-channel Gator Pro, Gator BLI adapts to your lab’s throughput needs.

Confident Insights, Faster Decisions:

Generate reproducible, clear competitive binding data in a single workday to guide therapeutic design and combination strategies.

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Choosing the right antibody isn’t just about how tightly it binds – you also need to know where it binds. Effective competition assays and epitope analysis allow you to break your candidates into broad groups called “bins” that compete with one another, and therefore share similar binding sites. Once you’ve separated your binders into bins that bind the same location, you can break apart the antigen into its domains, running a representative from each bin against each domain. These two steps, called Epitope Binning and Epitope Mapping are critical tools in antibody discovery, vaccine development, and binder characterization. Once you identify where the candidate binds its target, you can strategically select candidates for therapeutics development, combination therapies, or diagnostic panels. 

In many labs, epitope binning is slowed by time-consuming protocols, limited throughput, and inconsistency. Traditional platforms often don’t have enough plate space for the number of simultaneous readings, and can’t easily accommodate screening of large antibody panels or complex sample matrices. Gator Bio’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) systems are designed from the ground up with epitope binning in mind. Our instruments support label free parallel binding assays across a wide range of formats, enabling rapid binning of diverse antibody libraries with minimal hands-on time. With low sample consumption and robust assay reproducibility, Gator BLI allows users to confidently dissect epitope landscapes at scale. The Gator Pro system is the king of epitope binning, with three 384-well plate positions and 32 individual spectrometers, the Gator Pro allows you to perform complex 32×32 bi-directional sandwich or tandem binning assays and get completed results within the same 8-hour workday. Meanwhile, the reliable Gator Prime instrument can easily run full 12×12 bins thanks to its clever two-tray design, making it perfect for any smaller operation. Whatever scale you’re working at, Gator Bio gives you the clarity and throughput you need.

Key capabilities

Fast Prioritization with R_Max and k_off:

Use real-time kinetics values to rapidly identify high-quality binders

Low-Volume, High-Throughput Screening:

Screen hundreds of candidates in 96- or 384-well formats, even from crude or low-volume samples.

Reliable Results Without
the Wait:

Gator’s high-sensitivity biosensors deliver reproducible data quickly, making it easy to filter out weak or unstable binders.

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After generating hundreds of binders with hybridomas, display libraries, or machine learning algorithms, you need a way to characterize hundreds of possible binders with only single-point measurements to allow you to compare each one against the rest. With a real-time kinetics method, certain numbers, like R_Max and k_off, allow you to quickly separate promising candidates from low-quality binders. R_Max is useful because it gives you an idea of the % activity and stability of your new construct without purification and formulation. Simultaneously, off-rate screening, k_off, indicates the residence time of the candidate on its target and is often a good predictor of overall affinity, or K_D.

Many laboratories face obstacles in balancing data quality with throughput. Legacy systems often require excessive sample volume, take too long to provide meaningful binding information, or only provide you with endpoint EC₅₀ data. Many systems also struggle with small peptide analytes, using too much sample volume, or complex sample matrices. 

Gator Bio’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) instruments allow you to focus on discovery, and not spend all day troubleshooting. Our 96- or 384-well plate-based formats and improved biosensor chemistries take the struggle out of generating high-quality kinetics data at scale. Then take those same candidates and obtain robust kinetics data with either single-cycle or multi-cycle kinetics, giving full kinetics information: k_on, k_off, and K_D for each candidate. With Gator’s unparalleled suite of biosensors, you can screen anything from antibodies to nanobodies to peptides with complete confidence. 

Key capabilities

Screen Display Library Hits Faster:

Gator BLI delivers label-free kinetics directly from crude samples, speeding up triage of phage, yeast, or mRNA display outputs.

Remove False Positives Early:

Identify true high-affinity binders quickly without extensive purification or enrichment rounds.

Streamline Your Selection Workflow:

Turn traditional screening into a data-driven pipeline with real-time binding insights and high-throughput capability.

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Display library screening is a powerful strategy for identifying high-affinity molecular binders from vast combinatorial libraries. Techniques such as SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment), phage display, yeast display, and mRNA display allow for the iterative selection of aptamers, peptides, mini proteins, or nanobodies that bind with high specificity to a target of interest. These methods let you discover binders much faster than ever before – with only a few rounds of refinement, a library screen can generate several dozen possible binders that serve as a template for further optimization. 

Despite their promise, traditional screening methods typically require several rounds of enrichment and purification before meaningful affinity data can be obtained, and often fail to provide a complete picture of the binding interaction. 

Gator Bio’s bio-layer interferometry (BLI) platform offers a fast, label-free, and high-resolution solution for analyzing display library hits. Gator BLI doesn’t use fluitics, and its biosensors are compatible with crude samples, allowing you to rapidly quantify binding kinetics to triage large pools of candidates. Quickly identify high-affinity binders early in the screening process, reduce false positives, and streamline hit validation. Using Gator BLI, you can transform complex selection workflows into efficient, data-driven pipelines for next-generation binder discovery.