ABSTRACT
One of the principal modes of cell-cell communication, as well as control of biochemical processes in cells, relies upon proteins binding to a ligand. Phage display is a tool that makes possible both presentation of large repertoires of naturally occurring proteins, and the derivation of protein ligands that have never previously been known to exist in nature. The power of phage display is derived from the fact that an extremely large number of displayed ligands in the form of a library can be studied in a single experiment. The importance of the birth of phage display technology and the achievement of merging it with antibody technology can hardly be underrated with respect to impact it has had on modern life science. The transition from phage vector systems that rely on the large and genetically unstable phage genome, into the genetically stable low valence phagemid display system greatly improved the performance of phage display.
