What to consider before antibody purchase?
| The success of your experiments depends on the reagents, like antibodies. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to check the following parameters before any antibody purchase is done: Antibody reactivity - if the species you are working with is not listed, check with the supplier. Antibody reactivity can be predicted based on the sequence of the antigen that was used to produce it. Antibody Search by Species Antibody format - serum may not be a suitable format for techniques like Immunoprecipitation (IP), Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) or Immunolocalization (IL). Depending on the antigen location, the antibody is binding to mostly linear or mostly 3D epitopes. Due to this, the antibody may or may not work in techniques that require recognition of conformational epitopes, like IP and ChIP. Antibody dilution - antibodies that can be used in dilutions above 1: 1000 (in Western blot) are preferred. However, with sensitive detection reagents like Agrisera ECLBright and SuperBright, primary and secondary antibodies can be used in high dilutions, which allows more experiments to be conducted with your precious samples. Application examples - details, such as protein load/well, membrane type, blocking agent, primary and secondary antibody dilutions, are described on the specific antibody protocol. Following this information may save you precious time in the lab, as well as optimize target protein detection. Storage - some antibodies can be stored frozen or in liquid, while others should not be frozen at all, or the addition of glycerol or BSA is required. There is no "one size fits all" recommendation. Therefore, the product information sheet should be checked carefully. If you are not certain if the antibody you are considering for your experiments is suitable, please contact us for advice! |
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