How Invenra cut discovery timelines by 75% with PipeBio and Benchling

• End-to-end antibody discovery timelines reduced from 6 months to 8 weeks with more than 100x more sequences analyzed  

• Increased laboratory capacity by 8x with no headcount increase 

• Reports in minutes, not weeks while improving data integrity and accessibility 

When the science outpaces the tools  

Invenra is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of multispecific  antibody therapeutics. Using its extensive technology toolbox and efficient discovery engine, the company designs and creates best-in-class drug candidates. Invenra partners globally with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to accelerate therapeutic antibody programs from discovery through preclinical development. But as their programs grew in scale and complexity, the teams realized they needed a flexible bioinformatics infrastructure to keep pace with growing demand. 

Historically, Invenra sequence analysis relied on a home-grown sequencing process. The tools worked at the scale they were built for. But as the company grew, every new modality required retooling the underlying code. With only a few dozen sequences per run, scientists had limited visibility into the full diversity emerging from their selections. Meanwhile, the bioinformatics team was stretched thin, supporting both day-to-day analysis and custom code for the scientists. 

Putting powerful analysis directly in scientists’ hands 

That’s where PipeBio came in. Rather than routing requests through the bioinformatics team, bench scientists could now run sophisticated antibody sequence analysis independently. The no code, intuitive interface reduces the complexity of working with larger sequencing datasets. It enables more robust analysis pipelines eliminating use of in-house custom code and the  constant maintenance that comes with it. 

“It enables scientists to analyze their own data. Rather than waiting several weeks to build a  custom pipeline, they can configure it to what they need without my team’s involvement, which is amazing.” 

— Sara Counter, Group Leader of Data Strategy, Invenra 

The bioinformatics team is now free to focus on building data infrastructure, developing custom  integrations and software solutions for scientists, and multi-dimensional retrospective analyses  that inform the Invenra innovation strategy.

100x more sequences analyzed per selection round 

PipeBio supported the transition to next-generation sequencing by streamlining data flow directly into the Invenra workflow; and the difference was immediate. Next generation sequencing (NGS) captures hundreds to thousands of sequences per run requiring advanced analytics. Using the new approach, each sequence is automatically ranked by abundance and annotated with CDRs, germline assignments, liability scores, and glycosylation flags, offering significant time savings. 

“The data sets have increased by a couple orders of magnitude. You’re feeding  thousands of sequences into initial characterization, whereas before you were coming in  on a scale of hundreds.” 

— Paul Guyett, Research Group Lead, Invenra 

With a single click, selected candidates are imported directly into Benchling, eliminating risk of  errors or missing data. By applying sequence analysis earlier in the funnel, Invenra can filter  and prioritize candidates based on liability scores, family diversity, and abundance before committing resources to characterization. 

The need for speed 

The cumulative effect of these workflow improvements was a dramatic discovery timeline  compression. The process — from initial selections through characterization and  candidate delivery — improved from roughly 26 weeks to 8 weeks. 

Additionally, the new process maintained project success rates. The gains came from entering  characterization with pre-filtered, liability-scored candidates, which meant fewer programs  required additional selection rounds. Precision and speed unlocked capacity. By running cycles more efficiently, Invenra increased its discovery project capacity by 8x without adding headcount.. The company can now take on more programs, delivering faster results to more customers than was possible before.

“The timeline is a huge selling point for customers right now … It's a combination of a lot of  processes that have improved. But PipeBio really enabled that scaled work.” 

— Paul Guyett 

Client deliverables in minutes, not weeks 

Before adopting PipeBio and Benchling, client reports required experts from multiple functional  groups to spend a full week assembling data into PowerPoint slides and Excel spreadsheets. Even more time was required for data validation and review. 

Now, data automatically accumulates in Benchling throughout a discovery program. PipeBio integration on the front-end, coupled with scientific expertise from the Invenra team, allows projects to seamlessly move through characterization. With the script Invenra built and PipeBio integration, report assembly that once took weeks now happens in a fraction of the time, even for larger sample batches. By using Benchling as the source of truth, not only is data handling faster, it is also repeatable and reliable. Clients receive deep comparative analyses across hundreds of sequences, with full kinetics, cell binding, and liability data available on demand. The result is a standardized data package that's consistent across programs regardless of which scientist led the work. 

“Our main product at the end of our process is the data. Having that data integrity,  leveraging Benchling, really allows us to look at a larger sample size and make data driven decisions.” 

— Sara Counter 

Continuously building toward a smarter platform 

The work doesn't stop at candidate discovery. Guyett's team runs retrospective analyses in  PipeBio that analyze features of characterized candidates to find patterns that aren't visible  program-by-program. PipeBio enables the team to quickly assess larger sets of data without  bioinformatics support. Those insights then feed directly into the next generation library design. This data-driven foundation enables the company to move faster and more efficiently without sacrificing the quality biotech and pharma partners expect from Invenra. 

“We constantly improve our synthetic library and the quality of selected candidates.  Doing retrospective analyses in PipeBio supports that continuous improvement.” 

— Paul Guyett

Invenra has also recently started collaborating with Benchling on their latest offering, Biologics, which significantly improves how antibodies are designed and registered. Since Invenra focuses on creating novel bispecific and trispecific antibodies, tracking complex molecules in a structured, visually intuitive way overcomes a long-standing challenge. Registering a novel antibody format once meant navigating freeform data entry and hoping the underlying structure was captured consistently. Now, Benchling Biologics offers format-aware visual glyphs and streamlined registration workflows that reflect the actual architecture of the molecule. It closes an important gap, bringing the same rigor and structure that governs sequence analysis and data delivery to the design layer where discovery begins.

The Invenra story is one of innovation achieved with a platform built to keep improving.