: Can you share your perspective on the reproducibility issue associated specifically with the use of antibodies?
JL: Reproducibility of antibodies is essential in not only advancing science but also in advancing and protecting a scientist’s career. If the experiment isn’t reproducible, then delays begin and the scientist’s career path could be halted or even destroyed if the results are published and then have to be retracted. While scientists are experiencing the setback, antibody companies should be the ones held accountable for their faulty antibodies and their lot-to-lot inconsistencies. Not all can take this responsibility seriously since quality is out of their control if they are a reseller and not the manufacturer. It is a crisis, and only when antibody companies improve transparency in the marketplace can we hope to resolve the problems of irreproducible science. Luckily, there are a few manufacturers in the market now that are transparent and others should soon change accordingly.
: Can you tell us what your company is doing on a routine basis to make sure you are testing and validating the antibodies you manufacture or obtain from other sources?
JL: First, we don’t obtain antibodies from other sources. We manufacture all our antibodies and sell only our antibodies. We don’t partake in rebranding or allow other companies to sell our product without our brand. You’ll always know it’s a Proteintech product. To make it to the catalog, our antibodies need to have a successful ELISA and Western blotting and then we continue validation with IHC, IF, IP, FC, CHIP and knockdown in primary tissues and unmodified cell lines. We were the first to implement a gold standard in validation using the knockdown technique. New lots are tested and older lots are retested frequently to ensure quality and reproducibility. Our data is organized and original in that we can pull the original film of a Western blot, for example, to show researchers upon request. Manufacturing, validating, and managing the catalog of our own antibodies allows us to maintain a high level of quality control with traceability. A higher level of quality control means more reliable and consistent results for the scientist.
: Do you have any advice, recommendations and/or best practices scientists should follow when selecting and validating an antibody?
JL: While validation images and publication data are very important and must be reviewed when selecting an antibody, my key recommendation is that scientists also research the companies that they purchase antibodies from. Find out if they are a manufacturer-direct, a manufacturer that sells direct to their customers without any rebranding middle-man who often can’t or won’t take responsibility for the quality control of the product. A good antibody company will be transparent and show all validation images whether or not they were performed in-house or by another source. Buyer beware if a company does not disclose antigen information as the scientist is not purchasing from a transparent company and may have reproducibility problems with this product.
: What are your thoughts on the current efforts that are underway to tackle the reproducibility problem? Do you think they are realistic and implementable?
JL: One effort that is realistic and implementable is adding a gold-standard method in validation (knockout, knock-down or mass spectrometry). Knowing how important it is to the scientist that their antibody truly recognizes their researched target, we were the first to implement a gold standard in validation using knockdown specifically. Another effort that should be implemented but is not yet is the identification of the manufacturer by antibody resellers. Scientists need to know this information to avoid purchasing the same antibody from multiple companies who have rebranded the same product which, if faulty, wastes their time, money and efforts and slows down science drastically. This disclosure will allow the manufacturer to take responsibility for an irreproducible antibody as well. Once this is implemented, the positive measures GBSI and Nature are taking will progress significantly. It will be straightforward to identify and trace antibodies to their lots and to the manufacturer since they are revealed. You won’t see multiple identification numbers for the same antibody’s lot due to rebranding from multiple antibody companies. There will be one identification number for that antibody’s lot and it can be traced to the manufacturer.
: What else is your company doing to address reproducibility?
JL: This company was founded by scientists, and we have addressed reproducibility since the company’s inception in 2001 so we don’t need to address reproducibility in the same manner perhaps other antibody companies must. When we started the company we knew reproducibility was of utmost importance. We created a thorough scientific database that documents every step we’ve made in the production and validation processes. This thorough and highly organized data allows us to reproduce the antibody, effectively resulting in lot to lot consistency and reproducible data. All this in-house reproducibility allows for expert technical support and ease of troubleshooting for scientists. We can share original data and the protocol used specifically for the target in mind. It truly benefits the scientist and science to purchase directly from a manufacturer. You know exactly what you’re getting when you do.
Author Bio: Jason Li, Ph.D. is the CEO of Proteintech Group, an antibody manufacturing-direct company. His aim for the company formed in 2001 was to match scientists’ dedication to research by providing high-quality reliable reagents that contribute to reproducible results. The company has been successful in its aim by producing and validating over 12,000+ antibodies against 12,000+ targets of high reliable quality. Dr. Li holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Wuhan University, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and City University of New York, respectively. As a post-doc at Rockefeller University in the Immunology department, he researched under Nobel Prize winner for Medicine, Dr. Ralph M. Steinman. Later he discovered the Marcksl1 protein associated with binding and regulating actin and the microtubule cytoskeleton, which was more recently found to be involved in controlling membrane fluidity and molecular mobility of membrane proteins.