How to Apply

Instructions for Reagent Target Requests to the NCI Antibody Characterization Program:

Concern about the lack of access to affordable, well-characterized and analytically validated renewable affinity reagents and supporting resources has been discussed among representatives of the cancer scientific community. To drive the development of a central community core that would help accelerate biomarker discovery and validation, cancer diagnostics development. and therapeutics monitoring, the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI), Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) launched the Antibody Characterization Program. This program provides reagents and other critical resources to support protein/peptide measurement and analysis efforts. For more information on this program and reagents currently available go to https://proteomics.cancer.gov and https://antibodies.cancer.gov. The CPTAC Antibody Portal provides access to well characterized affinity reagents. Currently, monoclonal antibodies are being generated and characterized to proteins associated with human cancer. For each protein target, antibodies are generated and characterized using standardized assays that include (non-inclusive list): Western Blot, ELISA, lmmunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence, lmmuno Mass Spectroscopy and Affinity Measurement (i.e. Surface Plasmon Resonance). Monoclonal antibodies are made available to the research community through the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB) at the University of Iowa. All antibodies are expressed, purified, produced, and characterized using standard operating procedures (SOPs) that are freely accessible to the public. Since not all antibodies selected will be applicable to specific utilities, reasonable efforts are made to select antibodies with as broad utility as possible.

Because this is a highly sought-after resource, the NCI may not be able to satisfy all requests for antibody generation. Concomitantly, there are no guarantees that if the NCI attempts to make antibodies to the target requested, that the antibodies will be successfully generated and/or useful in the application desired. The NCI reserves the right to deny requests that are deemed incompatible with the mission and goals of the NCI.

Requests will be reviewed and considered for merit based on their justification and contribution to existing NCI¬ funded projects. Priority will be given to projects applying the antibodies to proteomic research.

For questions, please contact Dr. Tara Hiltke of the NCI:
Email: hiltket@mail.nih.gov
Phone: 240-781-3435