The Need for Superior Diagnostics
Monoclonal antibodies are commonly used in diagnostic tests due to their high specificity and affinity for a single target protein, which minimizes the risk of false positive or false negative diagnoses.
Though monoclonal antibodies offer many advantages in diagnostic tests, they also have limitations. They are fragile molecules prone to denaturation, becoming unreliable if improperly stored or handled, and have a limited shelf-life for the same reason. Since their production typically involves the immunization of animals, they can be time-consuming and expensive to develop and manufacture, which may limit their access and/or development for some diseases. There can also be batch-to-batch variability which may affect test performance.
Monoclonal antibodies are not ideally suited for multiplexing (where multiple target molecules are being detected simultaneously) due to cost, cross-reactivity, competition for target binding sites, and requirement of different test conditions for each monoclonal antibody. Further disadvantages include the limits to their specificity (they may cross-react with molecules closely related to the target molecule) and difficulty in targeting small or structurally complex compounds.
Transforming Diagnostic Testing
ThirdLaw Molecular LLC has developed a revolutionary approach to diagnostic testing: Spiroligomer™ molecules are assembled together to form small, robust, synthetic molecules, with functional groups incorporated in an almost infinite number of positions and combinations, that are monoclonal antibody-like in their ability to selectively bind target proteins.
These assembled Spiroligomer™ molecules are approximately 1/20th of the size of monoclonal antibodies and, as such, have greater access to target molecule binding sites. This offers the potential for greater specificity and selectivity, and the ability to target small or structurally complex compounds inaccessible by monoclonal antibodies. It also makes them ideal candidates for multiplex tests. They are robust and are stable for prolonged periods without special storage or handling, making them ideal for use in point-of-care and at-home tests. Since they are synthetic, they are inexpensive to develop and manufacture and do not have the batch-to-batch variability that affects performance of monoclonal antibodies.
ThirdLaw Molecular is synthesizing libraries of diagnostics to detect and quantify pathogens, peptide hormones, blood borne proteins, drugs of abuse and other molecules, to transform diagnostics testing in commercial applications.
The Spiroligomer™ technology offers a revolutionary approach to diagnostic testing.