How high-quality antibodies keep your research moving
Our mission is to keep you moving forward with results you can trust. That’s why we focus on quality, from extensive antibody validation to expert scientific support. Here are five ways we make a difference.
Poor-quality antibodies are holding science back. Every year, an estimated $28.2 billion gets lost to irreproducible preclinical research in the US alone, with biological reagents one of the biggest contributors.
Our mission is to keep your research moving forward with results you can rely on. We do that by providing high-quality reagents that perform first time, every time, over time.
Our commitment to quality starts in our labs, where we’re constantly growing and evolving our antibody range. But it keeps going even after they're in your hands, through expert scientific support and our Abcam product promise. Here are five ways we're making a difference:
1. Our recombinant antibodies deliver the highest specificity, sensitivity, and consistency
Recombinant antibodies overcome many problems with polyclonal and traditional monoclonal antibodies, including low reproducibility and genetic drift, by cloning specific antibody genes into vectors in vitro, delivering exceptional speed and scalability.
We've built the world’s largest range of recombinant antibodies so you can find exactly what you need, with each subjected to robust validation and quality control. Our catalog now includes 32,000+ recombinant antibodies available across multiple formats, including conjugated recombinant primaries, antibody pairs, and carrier-free.
2. Our award-winning knockout validation brings gold-standard specificity
Knockout (KO) validation is one of the most trusted processes for confirming specificity. We can eliminate doubts about cross-reactivity by testing an antibody in a KO cell line that doesn’t express the target protein, serving as a true negative control.
We offer 4,500+ KO-validated antibodies in a growing range – winning CiteAb awards in 2020 and 2022 – made with our library of human knockout cell lines, also available for purchase. As the gene sequence is known, recombinants can be used over and over again, and expression carried out at almost any scale, guaranteeing long-term supply.
“We keep seeing the same results across repeated experiments with the same antibodies, which gives us confidence that what we're seeing is biologically real.”
Dr Graham Heieis, Leiden University Medical Center, on Abcam's knockout recombinants
3. Our biophysical quality control guarantees lot-to-lot consistency
We've set a new industry standard for antibody quality by using biophysical quality control (QC) to confirm identity at a molecular level, enabling us to deliver the best-performing antibody every time. We assess purity, aggregation, and sequence identity and integrity using a toolkit of tests including liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
This provides a unique ‘fingerprint’ for validating future batches, guaranteeing the highest specificity, sensitivity, and consistency. Eliminating lot-to-lot variability means assays can be reproduced again and again, any time, globally. To date, 75% of our recombinant antibodies have undergone biophysical QC – winning us a Highly Commended Digital Science Tool of the Year award from CiteAb in 2024.
4. Extensive application testing ensures our antibodies work for what you need
Antibody validation must be application-specific to be effective. We validate in up to 10 applications so you can be confident how your reagent will perform in the one relevant to your research.
These include immunohistochemistry (IHC) on our in-house tissue microarrays, to validate against up to 50 different tissue types across three different species. We also help de-risk antibody selection by providing additional data that confirm sensitivity and specificity in key indications and targets.
“I've found Abcam's technical support to be excellent, with a rapid response from knowledgeable scientists.”
Dr Carl Hobbs, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London
5. Our scientific experts are on your team
Our global, multilingual Scientific Support team consists of scientists with real-world lab experience, who stay on the cutting edge of research through ongoing training. As well as advising on the latest protocols, techniques, and products, they can help you troubleshoot and resolve challenges in designing and running experiments.
They’re always listening and sharing your feedback to improve what we offer – and regularly receive thanks in published research for their support. Our team also supports the broader community through teaching and webinars at universities and conferences.
Antibody quality matters
Like you, we’re driven by our passion to make a difference. That’s why we focus on quality, extensively testing and validating every antibody to meet your standards. From biophysical QC to knockout validation, we put our recombinant antibodies through their paces so you get consistent results you can rely on. Let’s move forward together.
- Freedman LP, Cockburn IM, Simcoe TS. The economics of reproducibility in preclinical research. PLoS biology. 2015;13(6):e1002165.
Explore our recombinant antibody range
Exceptional batch-to-batch consistency, sensitivity and specificity – at the scale you need.