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Ideal for situations where a rapid, simple and sensitive assay solution is desired for quantitative analyses

These assays employ highly validated antibodies that have been screened to isolate the enzyme in active form and in complexes that likely represent their associations in situ.

Advantages of dipstick assays

This technique requires minimal sample preparation and few overall steps. The total assay time is less than one hour and requires as little as 3µg of sample material. It is suitable for a wide range of sample types: such as tissue, cultured cells, blood and cheek swab material and can be used in human, mouse and rats species and does not require isolation of mitochondria. There are corresponding quantitative sandwich ELISA assays for most enzyme activity assays and combining the two, it is possible to generate specific activity data.

Dipstick enzyme activity assays apply a novel approach, whereby target proteins are first immunocaptured from tissue or cell samples before subsequent functional analysis. Dipstick assays use the well-established lateral flow concept, whereby capture antibodies are striped onto nitrocellulose membrane and a Whatman paper wicking pad draws the sample through the antibody bands. Detector antibodies, conjugated to gold, are dried in the wells of a 96-well plate. Sample is added to the well, the dipstick inserted and within minutes the line for each target is revealed as the protein-detector antibody-gold complex binds with the capture antibodies. A positive control goat anti-mouse antibody line is included on all assays to ensure that adequate wicking of the sample occurs. Assay are also available in a multiplex format for multiple target proteins.

Our Scientific Support team share some additional flow cytometry troubleshooting tips from a recent workshop.

In order to better serve our customers, the members of the Abcam scientific support team frequently attend training sessions that increase and refresh our technical knowledge. In October, Elena, Jackie, and Caitlin from the US team completed a day-long flow cytometry workshop at the Flow Cytometry Core of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, under the instruction of technical director John Tigges. The day started with a brief history of fluorescence and flow cytometry (the first cytometer was invented in 1968!) and continued with in-depth training on the fluidics, optics, and electronics systems involved in the machines. John was kind enough to also give us a full afternoon running fluorescent beads on an LSRII!

What we learned

• When immunostaining for proteins that will be rare in the cell population, use a stronger fluorophore like phycoerythrin (PE).
• Don't change any voltages once they're set to the unstained control.
• If the sample pressure is too high, multiple cells will be analyzed at once. This is fine for IF analysis, but if the CV's are important (such as for cell cycle or ploidy studies) then this needs to be corrected.
• Prevent air from being introduced into the system, otherwise the pressure won't be sufficient and events won't be seen.

» For more tips, visit our previous blog article: Top 10 tips for flow cytometry

With such a high standard of entries received, it was always going to be a difficult task to select the finalists for round two of our competition. After much discussion, deliberation and debate, we have shortlisted 15 finalists to face the public vote.

How to place your vote

1. Simply go to our Facebook page and browse the gallery of finalists
2. Select the Like button for the image that you think is most worthy of winning one of the great prizes on offer

We would like say a big thank you to all competition entrants. We were so impressed with the images received, we will be creating an art gallery of all submitted entries on our Facebook page for everyone to enjoy once the competition closes.

Terms and conditions

• Voting will close on Friday December 16, 2011. Votes received after this date will not be counted
• Voters can 'like' more than one image
• The three entries to receive the most votes will be declared as winners of the competition
• Winners will be allocated either the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes according to the number of votes received for their entry
• If equal numbers of votes are received, the Abcam judging panel will make a decision as to who should be named the winner. The judge's decision will be final
• Winning entries will be announced on the Abcam Facebook page and blog on Monday December 19, 2011

Join us for our scientific roadshow and learn more about how to optimize your ELISA, western blot, IHC and ChIP experiments.

Our experienced scientific support specialized will give you tips and tricks, help you troubleshoot your experiments and answer your questions. Furthermore she will explain more about our 100% testing offer, the upcoming webinars and why Abreviews are important for your own research.

We welcome you to our FREE seminar on laboratory techniques in the following cities:

Berlin: November 28, 2011

1. Session

• Time: 10h - 11.30h
• Where: Max-Delbrück-Centre - small lecture hall Axon 2

2. Session

• Time: 13.30h - 15.30h
• Where: MPI for molecular genetics - seminary room in the main building

Hannover: November 29, 2011

1. Session

• Time: 10h - 12h
• Where: MHH Hannover - building J-2 - lecture hall E

2. Session

• Time: 13h - 15h
• Where: TiHo Hannover - library department of parasitology

Göttingen: November 30, 2011

1. Session

• Time: 10h - 12h
• Where: ENI Göttingen -seminary room ground floor R. 0.055

2. Session

• Time: 13.30h - 15h
• Where: MPI for experimental medicine - seminary room A1

Watch another of our popular webinars for free, 'Immunoprecipitation: Procedures, pitfalls and protocol tips'.

Immunoprecipitation is a method that enables the purification of a protein or protein complex. Proteins are physically isolated from a biological sample and subject to further analysis. IP can be used for a wide variety of applications such as protein-protein interactions, post-translational modifications, protein function, and expression profiling. Thus, this technique is a powerful tool for researchers studying cancer, development, cell signaling pathways, and disease. It also makes this an important tool to researchers studying biological process. Please view this webinar for a presentation on Immunoprecipitation procedures, pitfalls, and protocol tips.