Analytical applications of affibodies

• Affibodies are affinity proteins used in imaging, diagnostics and therapeutics.
• Affibodies are better than antibodies for imaging, diagnostics and therapeutics.
• We review analytical application of affibodies, their isolation and characteristics.
• We identify the future outlook for the applications of affibodies.

Affibodies are a new class of engineered affinity proteins widely used in imaging, diagnostics and therapeutics, due to their improved properties, such as small size, robustness, high stability, and high imaging contrast compared to the best known affinity molecules (i.e., antibodies). Affibodies can also be used as biological receptors in bioassays and their incorporation in biosensors constitutes a research field of high potential at its very beginning. This review provides an up-to-date overview of the analytical applications of affibodies, and their isolation and characteristics. We also address trends in the future outlook on using affibodies in research.