Single cell screening approaches for antibody discovery

Microtools that have been developed to allow in depth interrogation of individual cells in high throughput are improving our understanding of biological processes at the single cell level and are opening up new possibilities for biological research. In relation to antibody discovery, these tools are now helping to maximise the full potential of well-established methodologies for antibody generation. Being complementary to both recombinant and native antibody secreting cells, some of these tools are finding widespread use in the field. In this review, we discuss how microtools for single cell analysis are addressing some of the limitations of traditional approaches for antibody screening. We describe the main classes of microtools for antibody discovery along with a comparison of each technology and an outlook for the future utility of some of these microtools for discovery and research.