Antibody Viability - are my antibodies alive?? (Sep/07/2005 )
Hello!
I am a genetisist who is a novice at immunology 
but am trying my hand at some IHC. I have some antibodies left over in the lab from a grad student which are about 18 months old. Can i still use these? IS there some way in which i could check if these are still active and can be used??
Thank You!! 
-janbrisbane-
They are probably still fine, I store my antibodies at 4 deg C and some last for years and years. I would check them by doing IHC on cells or samples which you know are positive.
-MaximinaNYC-
QUOTE (janbrisbane @ Sep 8 2005, 07:55 AM)
Hello!
I am a genetisist who is a novice at immunology but am trying my hand at some IHC. I have some antibodies left over in the lab from a grad student which are about 18 months old. Can i still use these? IS there some way in which i could check if these are still active and can be used??
Thank You!!
I am a genetisist who is a novice at immunology
but am trying my hand at some IHC. I have some antibodies left over in the lab from a grad student which are about 18 months old. Can i still use these? IS there some way in which i could check if these are still active and can be used??Thank You!!
There is only one way to tell, I'm affraid.
But, most probably they will work fine. I am not sure what are you going to use them for, but if you need them for FACS, think about increasing the concentration. -Pallas-
Abs should be fine. Check for precipitate (cloudiness) in the solution. Solution should have some type of preservative such as azide or thimerosal (depending upon use).
Run a simple binding assay such as elisa etc with bound ag to check ab activity.
-sgt4boston-