abYsis: accelerating better design of antibody medicines

Problem to be solved

Antibody-based medicines are a fast-growing class of therapies, but discovery and optimisation generate vast volumes of sequence data. Teams need consistent ways to number, compare and interpret sequences so they can relate structure to function and make better design decisions, without relying on specialist bioinformatics support or unsuitable public tools. For industry, there is an added requirement: analysis must be secure and deployable within company environments so proprietary sequences can be handled confidently.

Solution

Developed by Professor Andrew Martin (UCL Structural & Molecular Biology), abYsis is a bioinformatics platform that helps researchers store, number and analyse antibody sequences consistently. By defining key structural regions uniformly across a dataset, users can link sequence variation to properties such as binding and stability, and use that evidence to guide redesign and testing of improved antibodies.

First released in 2009 as a freely accessible web tool, abYsis has supported antibody sequence analysis across multiple species and formats, helping both academic and industrial teams make faster, more informed decisions.

How UCL Ventures helped

Recognising the commercial potential, in 2010 UCL Ventures funded further software development and engaged specialist bioinformatics consultancy Chemogenomix to support the launch of a locally installable version of the abYsis system for industry users, under commercial licence.

Ongoing investment has kept abYsis up to date and responsive to users’ needs. A substantial award from the BBSRC Follow on Fund in 2013 was used to improve the system’s functionality and interface, including better in-browser visualisation and tools for comparing sequences and regions of interest.

UCL Ventures has supported abYsis with a long-term approach to product development, working with the team to keep commercial users’ needs in view and reinvesting a portion of licensing income to fund ongoing improvements while sustaining the free web-accessible version for researchers worldwide.

As Professor Martin says: “Researchers have thousands of antibodies to choose from. The abYsis database was built to help scientists without specialist bioinformatics expertise to analyse and understand antibody sequence data and use that to design more stable, precise and effective targeted antibody therapies.”

Where is abYsis now?

abYsis continues to be used by researchers worldwide via the free web tool, while the locally installable, commercially licensed version supports secure antibody sequence analysis in pharmaceutical and biotech R&D. Ongoing development is focused on keeping the platform robust, user-friendly and aligned with emerging antibody formats and analysis needs.