About BiCell Scientific®
Antibody is a key research tool widely used in many biological experiments. It establishes the foundation of research on protein biochemistry. However, the binding affinity and specificity of antibody are the major varying factors. The majority of existing antibodies were raised against full-length protein antigens (>200 amino acids) or long-peptide (>20 amino acids) antigens. Full-length protein antigens often cause promiscuous bindings in antibody due to the large number of potential binding sites. Long peptides are very difficult to dissolve into water even in the presence of DMSO. They must be denatured prior to conjugation to carrier proteins, which is the major cause of non-specific or off-target binding.
BiCell Scientific® researchers have discovered that short-peptide antigens (13-19 amino acids) allow developing polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies with specific and bona fide binding to target proteins in their native conformation. Because the structural length of an antibody binding site spans 8 amino acids in a target protein, short-peptide antigens contain a limited number (often <10) of potential binding sites. This feature is particularly important for developing “precision” antibodies with improved binding specificity to suit high-resolution applications, such as immunohistochemistry studies that require undenatured proteins to be recognized in situ among millions of other proteins. Short antigen sequences also allow antibodies to be used in protein domain specific or amino acid site specific recognition.
BiCell Scientific® researchers have also discovered that good antibodies are determined not only by affinity but also by purity. BiCell Scientific® polyclonal antibodies are purified by dual protein G and antigen-specific affinity chromatography. BiCell Scientific® monoclonal antibodies are purified by protein G/L affinity chromatography from serum-free hybridoma culture medium.
BiCell Scientific® is dedicated to antibody manufacturing and validation. BiCell Scientific® offers a large collection of pre-validated antibodies. BiCell Scientific® also offers service to generate and validate antibodies for customers to meet the NIH guideline of authentication of key biological resources.