CUSTOM BEAD COATING
Overview
MATRIX offers a customized bead coating service which enables customers to rapidly develop Pathatrix based assays that are not offered as standard production tests by Matrix.
There are three custom coating options we can offer as follows:
Standard Custom Coating - Customers provide MATRIX with their own target antibodies, or ones which are commercially readily available, and we can offer a custom coating service where the coating is either carried out at Matrix or on the customers site (sometimes this is necessary with select agents/reagents). Custom Generation of Antibodies - This is for the scenario when reagents are not available commercially and have to be generated from first principles i.e. from initial antigen preparation, initial inoculation and preparation of immuno-affinity purified antibodies. Custom Coating kits - This is something developed by Matrix to provide the customer with the option of doing the coating themselves on their premises. The kits contain pre-dispensed reagents and a simple protocol to follow.Question & Answer Section
How much antibody do you need for the coating process?If we are investigating a new uncharacterized antibody in our system, we would typically do a range of coating concentrations against a fixed pre-determined concentration of beads (previously well characterized by MATRIX) that uses 0.75 mg, 1 mg and 1.5 mg concentrations of antibody. We have determined from years of experience that this range is adequate to cover the optimal range of coating concentrations across a wide variety of reagents from polyclonal sera to monoclonal. Thus in summary, ideally, 3.25 mg of antibody would be optimal, but if reagents are scarce or expensive, then 1 mg would be satisfactory for at least generating a test batch.
What is the turn around time form the point of supply of the antibodies?From point of receipt of the antibodies, we can generally turn them around within 1-2 weeks. This can sometimes be faster depending upon the schedule of our contractor, but we will always provide estimates upon receipt of purchase order.
Is an on-site service available for security sensitive reagents?There are two options for security sensitive reagents. Firstly, we can arrange for our staff to visit your site and perform the coating in your own laboratory. Secondly, for highly sensitive bio-threat reagents we can provide coating kits and protocols to enable your own staff to undertake the coating
How many tests do you get from a typical custom coating batch?Typically ~ 1 mg of antibody may generate between 50-100 assays dependant upon the quality of the antibody reagents.
What is the effective shelf life of the beads?Typically, as long as they are stored correctly (2-8ºC) we would expect approximately 12 months.
What are the stages to generate polyclonal antibodies?For the initial immunization, the customer needs to supply MATRIX with the target organism (typically 300 ml of a confluent culture initially) followed by 50 ml cultures on a monthly basis after the first 3 months). Following immunization, the next stage is the preparation of sera/immuno-affinity columns and subsequent purification of an initial antibody test batch. This is for the preparation of a test batch of antibody that can be used in the coating procedure outlined in section 1 above.
What is the typical yield of an immuno-affinity purified antibody?There is no such thing as a typical yield, as the immune response to a particular target organism can not be pre-determined. In our experience, we normally recover enough specific reagent to provide us with an option of carrying out a full customized coating, using the 3 different coating concentrations. Although unlikely, it is also possible that no immune response is generated throughout the process and therefore no target antibodies can be identified. There are no guarantees when dealing with biological systems.
How long does the process of raising polyclonal antibodies take? From point of immunization we would expect to have harvested and immuno-affinity purified the reagents in ~ 14 weeks. Are there any ongoing procedures required to produce a supply of antibodies?The immunized sheep has to be maintained and further batches of antibodies produced. MATRIX will only undertake these costs if a regular supply agreement is established with the customer.
For specific information on costs in your region contact MATRIX sales office directly or send us an email request to info@matrixmsci.com
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