Bio-Rad Launches PrecisionAb™ Antibodies Validated Specifically for Western Blotting

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. today released the first set in a new product line of PrecisionAb^TM Antibodies, rigorously validated for use in western blotting. These antibodies offer superior sensitivity, specificity, and reliability. They also come with the industry’s most complete validation data so researchers can accurately assess the antibodies’ performance before buying, and a positive control lysate so researchers can optimize the antibodies in their own labs. These are the first of thousands of PrecisionAb Antibodies Bio-Rad plans to release in order to help researchers improve their western blotting results.

Scientists have struggled with antibody unreliability for decades because manufacturing standards and quality control vary widely among vendors, targets, and even among antibody lots. “There’s a huge discrepancy between the claims of antibody performance from vendors and what scientists encounter when the actual product arrives,” said Tiffani Manolis, marketing manager for protein quantitation at Bio-Rad. “This discrepancy has created much distrust in the market. Our stringent validation and quality control ensures only top-performing antibodies are shipped along with extensive validation data. Customers can have confidence in their antibodies and their results.”

Bio-Rad’s PrecisionAb Antibodies are screened using whole cell lysates from up to 12 different biologically relevant cell lines — by far the industry’s most rigorous validation process. Only antibodies that detect endogenous protein levels with high sensitivity and specificity are included in the PrecisionAb product line. Each new lot is screened before release to ensure lot-to-lot reproducibility.

A worldwide trial of PrecisionAb Antibodies, performed in a range of laboratory environments, confirmed the high specificity and sensitivity of the PrecisionAb Antibodies. “From what we have seen testing an initial range of PrecisionAb Antibodies, the product performs well with little optimization and at low concentration,” said Subhash Verma, PhD, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Reliability is always a concern with antibodies, but Bio-Rad’s approach to quality control gives me considerable confidence that their products will stand apart from current offerings.”

The beta testers also valued the greater depth of information PrecisionAb Antibodies provide. Bio-Rad shows the entire western blot image used for validation, giving the customer a complete view of antibody quality.

PrecisionAb Antibodies also offer numerous benefits, unmatched by other antibody products, for optimizing protocols and validating antibody specificity in a researcher’s sample. These benefits include:

• Trial sizes for all antibodies — enable researchers to test the antibody and optimize experimental conditions without a large upfront investment
• Detailed validation protocols — streamline optimization and validation, saving time and reagents and delivering top results
• Positive control lysates — provide researchers confidence in their data by simplifying validation of antibody specificity and troubleshooting of western blotting protocols