This story originally ran on Nov. 11.
The operators of the Human Protein Atlas program have adopted Origene Technologies' Verify Tagged Antigen over-expression lysates, the Rockville-based company said this week.
The HPA, operated by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, is a project to map the human proteome using antibody-based technologies. Origene's Verify Tagged Antigen over-expression lysates are full-length human proteins for functional studies and antibody validation, according to the company's website.
In a statement, Matthias Uhlen, program director of HPA, said that in pilot testing, using Origene's over-expression cell lysates as Western blot controls, he and his staff were able to increase the antibody validation success rate to 80 percent from 30 percent.
"Generating high quality mono-specific antibodies in a high-throughput manner is critical for the success of the program," he said.
Antibody quality is a longstanding problem that continues to plague antibody-based proteomics. Wei-Wu He, CEO of Origene, said in a statement that the company is "committed to provide both products and technical resources" to HPA, and added that the over-expression lysates "are the beginning of a series of products aimed at antibody validation and biomarker discovery."