Case Western and UNC researchers used phage display and molecular modeling to identify a binding ligand with high affinity for CRIP1, or cysteine-rich intestinal protein 1, which is a novel biomarker for early detection of breast cancer. After modelling and synthesizing a new peptide, A1M, they found that A1M had a 10 to 28-fold improvement in binding affinity than the original sequence motifs from the phage display work.