Epitope binning is an important step towards selecting the best monoclonal antibody for a specific therapeutic purpose as it allows researchers to narrow down the number of candidates by assessing binding affinity and binding specificity. Epitope binning is a competitive immunoassay that is used to characterize the binding of monoclonal antibodies to specific sites – epitopes – on a target antigen. Animation by James Harvie. | BioTechniques

The immune response is highly specific for each invader, and that’s because the cells of the adaptive immune response have antigens, which are unique receptors that can differentiate friendly bacteria from potentially deadly pathogens. The key cells of the adaptive immune response are lymphocytes: the B and T cells. B-cells develop in the bone marrow where they undergo a process called VDJ rearrangement to generate a massively diverse set of B-cell receptors. Watch this Reel to learn how B-cells