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Antibody Discovery03 / 07
Specialist serviceOptiMAL® Mammalian Display
OptiMAL® is Fusion’s next-generation mammalian display platform—engineered to deliver full-length human IgG antibodies in just 3–4 months. By negating the need for animal immunization, humanization, and reformatting, OptiMAL® accelerates discovery while enhancing developability. Our proprietary intelligent library design, based on natural human mutations, enables identification of high-affinity, low-immunogenicity binders ready for pre-clinical study.
30+ years of antibody expertise250+ humanization projectsOne integrated scientific team
Published from Fusion CMS
OptiMAL® Mammalian Display
OptiMAL® is Fusion’s next-generation mammalian display platform—engineered to deliver full-length human IgG antibodies in just 3–4 months. By negating the need for animal immunization, humanization, and reformatting, OptiMAL® accelerates discovery while enhancing developability. Our proprietary intelligent library design, based on natural human mutations, enables identification of high-affinity, low-immunogenicity binders ready for pre-clinical study.
Beyond Animal Models: The Future of Antibody Discovery
Native Folding. Natural Binding. One Step to Functional, Manufacturable Antibodies.
OptiMAL® Library: Intelligent Design for Mammalian Display
Unlike conventional libraries that focus mutations in CDRs alone, Fusion’s proprietary algorithm generates fully human libraries using somatic hypermutations across both frameworks and CDRs—closely mimicking the natural human repertoire.
- Heavy CDR3 cassette designed from natural amino acid distributions
- Liability motifs pre-screened and eliminated before synthesis
- Sequences closely resemble native antibodies, minimizing immunogenicity and off-target effects
Conventional libraries rely on fixed CDR lengths and random mutations (left), while the OptiMAL® library is designed to mimic the natural human repertoire—with variable HCDR3 lengths and targeted mutations across both frameworks and CDRs (right).
HCDR3 cassette design informed by native HCDR3 length variability and amino acid composition.
This approach ensures candidates integrate seamlessly into the human immune system—enhancing therapeutic potential and reducing downstream risk.
Mammalian Display: Where Developability Meets Discovery
Fusion’s platform stably displays full-length antibodies on the surface of HEK293 cells in a non-secreted format. Only cells expressing sufficient antibody density can be detected and isolated via MACS and FACS. This stringent selection, coupled with natural cellular quality control, ensures that identified antibody sequences exhibit high stability, proper folding, and strong developability profiles.
What Sets OptiMAL® Apart?
Most mammalian display systems face low integration efficiency (0.5–7.5%), limiting the practical diversity to ~10⁶ and often relying on comparatively poorly designed libraries with non-functional sequences. OptiMAL® overcomes these limitations through:
| Feature | Impact |
|---|---|
| High Screening Diversity | Identifies rare, high-affinity binders from up to 10⁹ variants, thanks to high lentiviral transduction efficiency (up to 90%). |
| Rational Design | The library design mirrors natural somatic hypermutation patterns, maintaining conserved structural residues while focusing diversity where it matters. Its compact format is tailored for efficient mammalian display. |
| Human-Like Profiles | Reduces immunogenicity risks and improves patient tolerance. |
| Direct-to-Product Format | Full-length IgG - no reformatting or humanization required. |
| Superior Developability | By design and natural selection, it identifies stable, manufacturable antibodies. |
| Accelerated Timeline | Lead candidates in 3–4 months. |
OptiMAL® is more than a display platform—it’s a smarter, faster route to clinically relevant antibodies.
Tailor Your Mammalian Display Strategy
Depending on project needs, Fusion can offer fully customizable libraries such as scFvs, single-domain antibodies, bispecifics, and AI-guided formats. Screening workflows can be adapted for diverse antigen types, with integrated functional assays to ensure selection of the most promising candidates.
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