Advances in our understanding of biology at the molecular level are very much driven by improvements in the scientist’s tool box. Such improvements may not only be an introduction of new techniques like polymerase chain reaction, but as much an increment of for example the sensitivity of existing methods. The in vitro generation of antibodies using phage display is one such technique, which continuously has been developed since its introduction more than 10 yr ago. As a result, selection of phage-displayed antibodies is emerging as a proteomic tool for the identification of differentially expressed cell surface antigens. Here, a method is described that enables the rapid isolation of a panel of recombinant antibodies recognizing epidermal skin keratinocytes. The method exploits the properties of a protease sensitive helper phage and facilitates the isolation of affinity-binders after a single round of selection. This assures a high diversity of binders owing to the reduction of experimental noise.
