Independent Antibody Validation to Improve Research Quality

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Press Release — Science Exchange, in partnership with the world’s largest marketplace for antibodies, antibodies-online (www.antibodies-online.com), announced today the launch of a program to independently validate thousands of commercial antibodies via the Science Exchange Independent Validation Service (www.scienceexchange.com/validation). This program will help scientists identify high quality antibodies, improving the quality of research results and preventing the waste of resources spent on ineffective antibodies.

“More than 70% of published research cannot be independently reproduced,” said Dr. Elizabeth Iorns, Science Exchange’s co-founder and CEO. “This has significant consequences for our ability to make scientific advances. One cause of this serious problem is the quality of reagents used in research studies. Our antibody validation program will directly tackle this problem, enabling scientists to identify independently validated antibodies that they can trust for their research.”

The antibody validation program leverages Science Exchange’s existing marketplace for scientific services, which contains a network of thousands of expert scientific experiment providers from top academic research institutes and commercial contract research organizations. “Our facilities are experts at specific experimental techniques. Using our network allows us to rapidly and cost effectively provide high quality independent validation of thousands of antibodies across a range of experimental techniques” said Dr. Iorns.

Validated antibodies will receive a badge of reproducibility, viewable at antibodies-online.com

Antibodies submitted to the Science Exchange Independent Validation service are blindly matched with an appropriate, verified provider who validates the antibody for specific technical applications including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Upon completion, the full experimental methods and results are written up as a report and the antibody is identified using an “independently validated” badge with a unique identification number (see an example report here). This badge will be displayed beside independently validated antibodies on the antibodies-online website, enabling researchers to easily purchase trusted reagents from the antibodies-online marketplace.

“We believe researchers have the right to make purchasing decisions based on transparent information about a reagent’s true performance ability”, said Dr. David Kitz Kramer, head of customer service at antibodies-online.com. “antibodies-online.com will provide a unique resource where scientists can easily purchase independently validated antibodies that they can trust.”