Antibody Validation Webinar Series
BROADCASTS WITH THE SPEAKERS: November 12th, 2019 – Spring 2020
REGISTRATION IS FREE
Tool antibodies are the dominant affinity reagent for proteomics in cell biology, reflected by the over 4.5 million antibodies that are commercially available. Distinct from therapeutics or diagnostics, tool antibodies tend to be poorly characterized. This is echoed by many reports of catastrophic specificity, activity, identity and reporting deficits involving such reagents.
Nevertheless, biological sciences remain highly dependent on them.
In this 9-part series, aimed especially at those beginning a career in biological sciences, The Antibody Society has invited leaders in antibody research from industry and academia to reflect on antibody validation. They paint a uniformly alarming picture of inadequacies at many levels – which encourages users to be highly aware of the consequences of inadequate tool antibody validation, which threaten their biological endeavors.
All webinars will be available On Demand after the initial broadcast.
Moderator: Dr. Simon Goodman, Science & Technology Program Manager, The Antibody Society
WEBINAR 1: Antibody specificity? What’s the problem
November 12th, 2019, 9am Eastern Standard Time / 3pm Central European Time, 30 min. webinar + 15 min. chat
In this introduction to the topic, Professor Andreas Plückthun, University of Zürich, discusses the biology of the 3 principal types of commercial antibodies: polyclonal, monoclonal, and recombinant. Surprisingly, only recombinants offer a reasonable hope of reproducibility in the long term – yet they remain very much the minority.
Speaker: Dr. Andreas Plückthun
View On-Demand Recording
View Questions and Answers from the live Webinar 1
WEBINAR 2: Antibodies drive irreproducibility
November 13th, 2019, 9am Eastern Standard Time / 3pm Central European Time, 30 min. webinar + 15 min. chat
Professor Glenn Begley, Biocurate Pty Ltd, and Professor Cecilia Williams, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, describe arduous, alarming and very costly experiences in failing to confirm “well established” critical data in oncology – a failure often driven by ineptly characterized antibodies.
Speakers: Dr. Glenn Begley and Dr. Cecilia Williams
View On-Demand Recording
View Dr. Begley’s Presentation Slides View Dr. Williams’ Presentation Slides
View Questions and Answers from the live Webinar 2
WEBINAR 3: What’s in a name? Finding the antibody for the job
December 4th, 2019, 9am Eastern Standard Time / 3pm Central European Time, 30 min. webinar + 15 min. chat
Dr. Jan Voskuil, Aeonian Biotech, and Professor Andy Chalmers, University of Bath and CiteAb, delve into the mysterious world of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which can veil the identity of antibodies, and data-base repositories that help unveil which antibody has produced reliable results.
Speakers: Dr. Jan Voskuil and Dr. Andrew Chalmers
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WEBINAR 4: What is this antibody?
December 5th, 2019, 9am Eastern Standard Time / 3pm Central European Time, 30 min. webinar + 15 min. chat
Professor Anita Bandrowski, University California San Diego and SciCrunch, and Dr. Jan Voskuil, Aeonian Biotech, probe how antibody reagents are identified. If we can’t identify which antibody has been used, we can never reproduce experiments. The Research Reagent Identifier systematically tags antibodies so they can be tracked, but the small-print on the data-sheets still hides many things.
Speakers: Dr. Jan Voskuil and Dr. Anita Bandrowski
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WEBINAR 5: Really? Out of control(s)?
DATE TBA
Dr. Giovanna Roncador, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas and EuroMabNet, examines the criticality of using appropriate fit-for-purpose controls, both positive and negative, to validate antibodies in every experimental context.
Speakers: Dr. Giovanna Roncador
WEBINAR 6: Even the Easy Stuff Isn’t
DATE TBA
Professors Aldrin Gomes and James Trimmer, both from University of California, Davis, dissect two “basic” validation technologies, Western blot and immunohistochemistry, to expose the very many things that can distort validation data.
Speakers: Dr. Aldrin Gomes and Dr. James Trimmer
WEBINAR 7: It’s a Knockout
DATE TBA
Dr. Travis Hardcastle, Horizon, and Dr. Alejandra Solache, Abcam, describe the character of different gene-knockout technologies, one of the strongest validation technologies, and their value in large-scale antibody screening.
Speakers: Dr. Travis Hardcastle and Dr. Alejandra Solache
WEBINAR 8: Mass-screen validation
DATE TBA
Dr. Fridtjof Lund-Johansen, Oslo University Hospital, and Dr. Mike Taussig, Cambridge Protein Arrays, look at array and immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry technologies, which offer a broader and deeper image of antibody specificity and selectivity for validation, than classical validation technologies.
Speakers: Dr. Fridtjof Lund-Johansen and Dr. Mike Taussig
WEBINAR 9: Is there a valid future?
DATE TBA
Professor Andreas Plückthun, University of Zürich, and Dr. Andrew Bradbury, Specifica, suggest ways out of the validation maze by rigorous molecular identification of recombinant tool antibodies. This achievable goal could eliminate many of the shadowy issues described in this series of webinars.
Speakers: Dr. Andreas Plückthun and Dr. Andrew Bradbury
