FAQ
Thank you for choosing bioWORLD for your custom service needs! We offer high quality antibody production services at costs substantially lower than most researchers would realize, even at their own facility. The following are most commonly asked questions regarding the set-up and execution of an antibody project. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
A number of animals are suitable hosts for polyclonal antibody production, including rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, chickens, goats, sheep, and horses. The most common host animal is the New Zealand White Rabbit, 4-5 lbs.
For a rabbit, we typically require about 1 mg of antigen per host to cover the initial immunization and subsequent boosters. In these animals, smaller doses of antigen usually lead to quicker and higher antibody titers. Some antigens are more antigenic; therefore, lower quantities may be sufficient. If antigen quantities are scarce, smaller amounts can be administered, but immune response of the host may be less potent. We have successfully raised antibodies against 200 ug of protein. bioWORLD will accept antigens provided in buffer solutions (No Detergents), as a crushed polyacrylamide gel slice, as a lyophilizate, or membrane-bound peptide. Please be aware that bioWORLD will not accept antigens that are pathogenic, toxic, radioactive and/or carcinogenic. BioWORLD also provides custom peptide synthesis services to generate your antigen for a given sequence.
A typical project takes 9 weeks and follows this schedule:
| Day | Performed Procedure |
| 0 | Pre-Inoculation bleed and initial inoculation (using Complete Freund's adjuvant) |
| 21 | First test bleed and boost (using incomplete Freund's adjuvant) |
| 35 | Second test bleed and boost |
| 49 | Third test bleed and boost |
| 63 | Production bleed or final exanguination bleed |
| 70 | Further boost (if necessary, extra charges) |
Antibody production is directly related to host response against the antigen. Additional antigen boosts and bleeds can prolong this schedule. Additional charges occur after 90 days of hosting an animal.
Test bleeds (about 7 ml of serum from rabbit host) are sent to the researcher for analysis. bioWORLD offers ELISA testing services for test bleeds upon request for a minimal fee.
Following the third test bleed, bioWORLD will inquire about the status of your project. Additional boosts or project termination requests must be made in writing. Upon the request, there will be a final exsanguination bleed that will yield approximately 80 ml of serum (from a rabbit host) and the project will be terminated. bioWORLD offers additional services, such as IgG purification.
For a typical polyclonal antibody project, the following charges will apply:
Choice of host |
$320/rabbit |
Host procurement and conditioning |
$48 |
Pre-inoculation bleed |
$38 |
Host disposal |
$45 |
Shipping |
$45/shipment |
Shipping of serum starts with the second bleed (shipment includes pre-bleed and first bleed) and continues until the exsanguination bleed is shipped for a single shipping charge of $46.00. Additional boosts/bleeds and their shipping charges are not included in this calculation.
Request and fill out the bioWORLD Antibody Order Form and the Antibody Shipping Form. Fax your order form to bioWORLD at (614) 792-8685. Send the Antibody Shipping Form and a copy of the order form with your antigen. You will receive a project schedule approximately two weeds after we receive your antigen, showing the actual date of inoculations and boosts.
Yes, we perform Protein A and Protein G affinity purifications to provide you pure antibodies. Inquire for affinity purification services.
US customers can place orders online, by phone (614-792-8680), or fax (614-792-8685). To order online, login or register on our website & go directly to your shopping cart, or you can search our site for the products you need.You can use a credit card (Mastercard and VISA only) to place the order on our secure server.
Please contact your Distributors. We have distributors all over the world. if you cannot find your country listed, please contact customerservice@bio-world.com for assistance.
Customer Service Line : 800-860-9729 | Phone : 614-792-8680 | Fax : 614-792-8685
For General Enquiry : customerservice@bio-world.com | For Technical support : tech@bio-world.com
Shipping Address : bio-world, 4150 Tuller Rd., Ste 228, Dublin, OH 43017, USA
Billing Address : bio-world, PO Box 888, Dublin, OH 43017, USA
Bodily fluids such as perspiration are rich in RNase activity. Therefore, the use of ungloved hands often result in RNase contamination compromising critical experiments. Use gloves and make sure to discard them and don a new pair frequently during experiments. Do not touch any surface with ungloved hands that will come into contact with your sample.
Tips and tubes can be a source of RNase contamination. Merely autoclaving will not destroy all RNase activity, since these enzymes are very stable and can regain partial activity upon cooling to room temperature. Always use tips and tubes that have been tested and certified RNase-free. BioWorld has a broad selection of certified RNase-free tips and tubes.
The water and buffers used in molecular biology applications can be frequent sources of RNase contamination. DEPC-treatment is the most common method used to inactivate RNases from water and buffers. However, certain reagents such as Tris cannot be treated with DEPC
Contact with laboratory bench tops, glassware, plastic ware, and other surfaces that are left exposed to the environment can lead to introduction of RNase contamination into crucial experiments. These surfaces get contaminated due to the presence of bacterial and fungal spores present in many laboratory environments and body fluid contact. Dead cells shed from human skin can also lead to contamination of exposed surfaces. These surfaces can be treated with an RNase decontamination solution such as BioPlus RNase Out (tm) (catalog # 640200). Glassware and metal ware can be backed at 450F to inactivate RNase.
All organisms contain RNases. Liquid nitrogen is often used to rapidly freeze tissues after harvest to minimize RNA degradation. However, freezing tissue in liquid nitrogen is not always convenient, especially if large numbers of samples need to be preserved. BioWorld offers a tissue storage stabilization solution that preserves RNA within tissues and cells. The pieces of tissue can be simply dropped into 5-10 volumes of RNASafe (tm) and stored at 4C for the isolation of RNA at a later time.
Trace amounts of RNases that may co-purify with isolated RNA can degrade the RNA that interests you. RNase inhibitors are commonly used as a precautionary measure in most enzymatic manipulations of RNA.
Plasmid DNA used for in vitro transcription or coupled transcription: translation reactions can introduce RNase contamination into reactions. Many researchers degrade the RNA in plasmid preps by RNase treatment. If this procedure has been used we recommend a Proteinase K treatments followed by a phenol: chloroform extraction to eliminate all traces of RNase prior to subsequent reactions. If the DNA template has been cut by restriction enzyme digestion, a similar treatment is recommended, since restriction enzymes may be contaminated with RNases.
Commercially purchased enzymes can be a potential source of RNase contamination. We use RNase/Alarm(tm) to determine the extent of RNase contamination in numerous commercially available enzymes.
The best method to preserve isolated RNA for a long-term storage is to perform a salt/alcohol precipitation and store and nucleic acid as a precipitate in this solution. The low temperature and the presence of alcohol inhibit all enzymatic activity. The lower than neutral pH (due to the presence of sodium acetate or ammonium acetate pH 5.2) also helps to stabilize the RNA. Another option is to resuspend the RNA in a BioPlus RNA SAFE, which contains RNase inactivating reagent. After the addition of RNA Safe, heat the sample at 60C for 10min to inactivate RNases
Though RNase contamination is most commonly suspected whenever RNA degradation is observed. RNA molecules can also undergo strand scission when heated in the presence of a divalent cation such as Mg or Ca at > 80C for 5 minutes or more. Thus a chelating agent should be present whenever there is a requirement for heating RNA. RNA Safe has been designed for storing RNA. It contains 1mM sodium citrate, pH 6.4, which is an efficient chelator of divalent cations, and minimizes RNA base hydrolysis.