Protein purification services are available for anyone who is in need of a custom antibody or recombinant protein for research and development purposes. If your laboratory is not equipped to produce recombinant proteins in house, then this may be an attractive option. These services require you to provide a sequence and preferred expression system; in turn they will deliver a quality controlled protein with accompanying documentation to you within just a few weeks.
Lluis M. Martínez, SEPMAG Chief Scientific Officer
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Molecular diagnostics entails the analysis of biomarkers to help diagnose, track the progression of, or determine risk factors and prognosis of disease. Biomarkers have been identified within the realm of genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proetomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics:
The ELISA or Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay is the most established method of protein detection and quantification. The technique is commonly used in a wide variety of applications spanning from the basic research bench to clinical laboratories. The ELISA is a labeled assay, which means that it requires the use of a label to detect an antibody-antigen binding event. The label is commonly a fluorescent probe, chemiluminescent system, or enzymatic colorimetric reaction.
Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) are relatively new diagnostic and therapeutic tool. MIPs are highly specific three dimensional polymer imprints of molecules. The power of this tool may not be immediately obvious, but it is indeed a very useful technology. The power of MIPs lies in their specificity of binding to target molecules. Before the invention of MIPs, the only way to achieve this type of specificity was through antibody-antigen binding, surface receptor-ligand interactions, or protein affinities such as streptavidin and biotin. The problem with all of these systems is that they need to already exist. But what about a target that doesn't have a known molecule with a natural affinity? Herein enters molecularly imprinted polymers.
For the indirect and direct elisa, the antigen is applied to the surface of the elisa plate, but for a capture antibody is attached directly to the surface of the plate for sandwich elisa. Aside from this major difference the indirect and elisa protocol is very similar to the sandwich elisa protocol. There are plenty of blocking and washing steps to avoid non-specific binding, and there are incubation times to allow antibodies and antigens to bind properly. The indirect elisa requires two antibodies—a primary antibody to bind to the antigen, and a secondary antibody conjugated to an enzyme or fluorophore. The direct elisa uses a primary antibody that is directly conjugated to an enzyme or fluorophore. Either way, both of these methods—and indeed every elisa protocol, is a labeled assay. The antibody-antigen binding event cannot be quantified without the presence of the enzyme or fluorophore.
Faster and more efficient methods of pathogen detection are in high demand. The traditional methods involve collection of patient blood or swab samples for multi-day cultures. These methods are time-consuming and require full laboratories with skilled technicians and sterile equipment. As such, they are not ideal for low-income areas or for rapid pathogen detection. There is a need for rapid pathogen technology and point-of-care diagnostic tools. Ideally, these technologies will come with a built-in validation protocol. Magnetic nanoparticles and molecularly imprinted polymers are good candidates for improved pathogen detection systems. An additional benefit to using magnetic nanoparticles is that the separation process is easy to quantitatively measure with a validation protocol.
The earliest chemists were on the hunt for new elements to add to the periodic table. Most of the chemistry that they were interested in doing was purification with the end goal of reaching a pure elemental substance. These chemists relied on a litany of methods—filtration, evaporation, distillation, and crystallization were some of the most used purification techniques for these discoveries. As the chemists were defining the elements, the biologists were trying to understand the human body, the cell, cellular organelles, and microbes. The point here is that in order to develop anything new we must first understand what everything is made of at the most basic and pure level. In modern science this means that we are trying to define matter beyond subatomic particles and we are attempting to map out every molecular pathway of disease. Our efforts to define complex systems by their purest constituents are rewarded by deep understanding and an ability to mimic, to engineer, develop, and create.
If you look closely at the product information for many commercial antibodies, you will see that they are protein A purified. Protein A is a surface protein that was originally found in the cell wall of staphyloccoccus aureus bacteria. On the surface of bacteria it serves as a defense against the host immune system and allows the bacteria to survive longer and be more virulent. Protein A binds the Fc portion of IgG antibodies.
The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human use (ICH) was founded in 1990 as a way to standardize the introduction of new drug substances to the worldwide market. The council wrote and maintains guidelines for how new pharmaceutical products must be tested for stability and quality before they can be approved for worldwide distribution. The guidelines protect consumers and allow new therapeutic drugs to reach patients across international borders more quickly. The ICH has written guidelines for the stability testing of new drug substances and products. There is a general document known as Q1A(R2) that outlines the details of every stability test that a new drug substance must undergo before being registered. These tests examine how the drug degrades in high temperature or high humidity over time. It outlines methods for defining the mechanism of degradation for the new drug, and how to test proposed protective packaging for efficacy. A supplementary document (Q1B) contains additional details specifically about photostability testing.
The northern blot protocol is a technique used to study gene expression via mRNA transcripts. The northern blot was named after the southern blot, which was developed to study DNA. The two techniques are the same except that the northern blot is used to detect RNA while the southern blot is used to detect DNA. The northern blot protocol, in brief, involves gel electrophoresis to separate mRNA by size, a blotting step to transfer the separated mRNA to a membrane, and a probe hybridization step to identify the mRNA sequence of interest. Even with the advent of powerful RNA analysis techniques such as RT-qPCR and sequencing, the northern blot protocol is still useful for comparing gene expression between samples. The northern blot protocol is relatively inexpensive, and makes it easy to visualize the results on a single membrane.
Equipment and materials needed
A northern blot requires several pieces of equipment for its main steps which include, running the gel, transfering your sample onto a membrane, and immobilizing it. The process also requires many buffers for your gel to run smoothly and correctly, as well as buffers for your RNA samples and the subsequent steps.
For a northern blot you will need an apparatus for setting up an agarose gel, as well as a power supply for it. You will also need a transfer system, such as a vacuum and a nylon membrane on which to transfer your RNA. You will also need a device to produce UV rays onto the nylon membrane for immobilization of the RNA. For materials you will need to make a typical RNA separation buffer called MOPS, and a denaturing agarose gel. You will also need to create a buffer for your RNA. You will also need a saline-sodium citrate buffer (SSC) for wash steps. One of the time consuming aspects of a northern blot is preparing the buffers required for each step.
