Creative ways to get antibodies for free - (Feb/01/2009 )

Hey-


Anyone else have money problems in the lab? I always seem to be mooching from the same people and have some decent ideas that can't be tested without the right antibodies, which we don't have enough money to buy (especially for a non-sure thing)

anyone ever heard of industry giving away small amounts of antibodies to an academic lab? Should I network more? What about starting an underground network of grad students who share reagents? Anyone ever sweet talked a sales rep into a free antibody? You think people on the forum would be willing to share reagents if I gave them my boss's FedEx number?


Anyone else have any creative ideas?
I need to graduate and a few extra reagents wouldn't hurt!

Thanks

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Some companies such as Santa Cruz give away antibodies if you have cited their antibodies in your publications. Once a friend of mine from a foreign country got an antibody from SC because we (in the US) have cited SC antibodies, although my friend is not among the authors.

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At a university where I used to work, there was a lab on-site that would make antibodies for local labs for relatively cheap - have you checked into that at your university?

Also, my boss at my old company would buy antibodies at lower prices as "samples" - but it was an industrial setting not academia, so I don't know if that would help you.

Finally, are you looking for mono- or polyclonal? I know a start-up lab that makes monoclonal antibodies - in order to get customers they *might* be willing to hand some out. But obviously I can't speak for them, I could only send you in their direction.

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I get quite a lot of free stuff. I write a nice email, stating what i'm doing, what i need, how our lab is very very poor . Go on to say, that we want to try the stuff out before we buy, because we are so very very poor . I've got hybond+ paper, sybr green kits, midi prep kits, polymerases, laders, transfection kits.... tried to get a new flow cytomoter for free, but the sales guy didn't budge <_< . Haven't tried for antibodies, but i suspect the same would work. for you see, we are so very, very poor.

Vetticus

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Hehe....


Thanks guys....I'll keep trying to play the poor impoverished grad student act to Santa Cruz and others. I've tried it before with mild success over the phone....but I guess by email it gives you the opportunity to lay it on really thick. Maybe I'll try that next

Mountainman

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Hey Poor researchers (esp Vetticus),
Its really useful ideas what you have given to him, and this forum is pretty useful for many researchers who suffer to do their stuffs.. hats off to Bioforum.

But in the current lab where am working now (really poor lab, but all are doctors) they bought ''10 X PBS'' which was shocking for me being a biologist, its just waste of money if one can prepare that. I had been working in another lab earlier where we don't even buy mini preps, struggeled with all conventional methods, alkaline lysis.

keeping going

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Hey, i might be in a very, very poor lab , but once you get something for free once, they keep on sending you things to try!! It's like small christmasses all through the year.

email definately gives you an advantage. You can go on and on about how your work is so interesting, but you can't afford this new whiz-bang reagent, and that you might be able to pursuade your PI into buying some (giving up the money that would have been spent on buying bread crumbs for dinner *what?*). if you could just try it out, and show your PI that it works, and is worth the expense. After all, it is such a wonderful product, and although no other lab where you work uses it (that's why you can't steal a few uL from them), you've heard it cures cancer, eliminates wrinkles, and creates a new maserati from thin air.
You can't use the phone all that often, becase your lab can't pay the bill.
If you do this, they usually offer a discount if you decide to buy the product later.

Trade fairs are also good for arranging freebees. I now have more pens and key rings from biotech coys than i can poke a stick at.

10X PBS... we had a new guy try to talk our boss into buying that.

Vetticus (completely using the "impoverished student in an impoverished lab" edge for all it's worth.)

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Whoa-


I just tried getting a free antibody from Santa Cruz. It works!!! if you've published a paper with one of their antibodies not only do you get a free one but you get entered in a draw fro 10 free ones.


Thanks PCRman,

Mountainman

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Greetings from Santa Cruz Biotechnology.

We noticed that you took advantage of our Investigator Award Program, so we would like to take this opportunity to let others know about this program. We will send one complimentary primary antibody per publication that cites the use of one or more of our products.

The product cited in the published article does not need to be a primary antibody in order to obtain a free primary antibody. It can be one of our positive control lysates, an siRNA, a secondary antibody, an Immunoprecipitation reagent, etc.

In order to obtain the complimentary antibody, you can email your publication to scbt@scbt.com along with your complete shipping information and telephone number and the catalog number of the item you wish to receive. Please put Investigator Award in the subject line.

Alternatively, you may call our Technical Service department at 1-800-457-3801 ext. 2 and we will be happy to offer you an antibody for your citation of our products, no matter how poor you are.

Unfortunately, our company policy prohibits us from sending samples, but we do offer a full warranty for all of our antibodies. If you purchase a product and it fails to perform according to the recommendations in our product literature, we offer a credit or replacement. If we are unable to provide you with a suitable reagent, we will FULLY refund the antibody.

Thank you for citing Santa Cruz antibodies, and if you do so in the future, please make sure to let us know, and take full advantage of our Investigator Award policy. (And, the 10 free antibodies are awarded twice per year!)

Best luck to all of you in your research.

Sincerely,
Technical Service
Santa Cruz Biotechnology

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I had no idea abt such a program. Thanx for the info.

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I told my PI about the Santa Cruz's Investigator Award Program, and he is very excited about it.

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hehe, mine too

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ill tell my professor!!!!!!!! thanx for telling us! thank you God for letting me discover this forum....

sorry are vectors included also? cause we have a lot of SantaCruz vectors...

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Good morning, Technical Service at Santa Cruz Biotechnology responding:

If you publish a paper using vectors from Santa Cruz, you are still entitled to a complimentary antibody. The criteria is: any published paper citing the use of any Santa Cruz product--and you receive a complimentary primary antibody!

If you wish to recieve another product in lieu of the complimentary antibody, please contact us directly, we will be happy to work with you!

We can be reached at scbt@scbt.com and 1-800-457-3801 ext. 2.

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thank you very much for the information!

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I've got antibodies from Neomarkers. I usually phone or email the people and say that I would be interested in buying the Ab but I would like to be sure it works. And if it does, we'll buy it from them. They sent me some trial-size (100ul) samples! ;-)

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Good marketing strategy and free advertisments in journals.....
Good for researcher who need free antibodies....
Publish....free antibodies.....Publish again..... free antibodies again.....and the cycle goes on.....

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not that i want to give away all of the industries secrets, but sales reps are easily lured into given free products if you dangle the carrot of larger orders or bulk orders in front of them

in this case just ask for an initial product for trail purposes before commiting to a larger order, of course *somehow* it doesnt work and you cant place the larger order!

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We did the same thing sometime back. Had to try out 4-5 different antibodies, so we requested samples for all of them and then we completed our project using the sample antibosies itself. Didnt have to spend any thing.

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Is this Immuno guy for real ???? or is it someone playing a cruel April fools joke 2 months too late...

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Yeah he must work for Santa Cruz or something. I've already used my free antibody from Santa Cruz! It's for real.

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yeah...i just tried it too...let see if it works for me :-)

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Yes, this Immuno guy is for real. The phone numbers and emails are legitimate. This is not a joke! It is not too good to be true--it is a trade: a published paper using one of Santa Cruz antibodies for a free antibody, it is a win-win situation. Try it-send us your paper, we'll send you a free primary antibody!

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<!--quoteo(post=56317:date=Jun 20 2006, 12:57 PM:name=Immuno06)-->

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Let try to call the immuno guy and email him to find out whether he is real.

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<!--quoteo(post=56071:date=Jun 19 2006, 05:52 AM:name=scolix)-->

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Which company? Would you please tell me?
I also wish to try to obtain some free antibodies samples.

Thank you
Minnie Mouse

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It's Santa Cruz Biotechnologies Inc.

Santa Cruz Homepage

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<!--quoteo(post=56367:date=Jun 20 2006, 10:42 PM:name=kylvalda)-->

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Thank you

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Please do call us and send us your papers citing Santa Cruz Biotechnology products.

Our phone number is 1-800-457-3801 ext. 2 (for Technical Service)
Our website is www.scbt.com. You can click on the Investigator Award link on the left side of the page to view details on the program and view past winners.

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hahahah,, Oh my god, I had lough so much with your tips about getting free stuff. This was a really good topic.

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Oh I am happy to see that I am not the only one who works in the very poor lab As a postgraduate student, I feel very sad and shy when reading journals or research reports from other countries. They run fast with techniques and technology because of the big amount of funds to support the lab. Here, I only can dream to get antibodies and another chemicals to run my research.

For instance, now I am into Reproductive Endocrinology. I only able to purchase radioimmunoassay kit to measure hormone level. I want to investigate Leydig cells and beta-cells of pituitary as candidates to study the mechanism of my substance and I cannot do anything. I am dreaming to be able to get primary antibodies towards those organs, then I can do something but.. oh well..

Santa Cruz... hmm I will try Wish me luck, guys and gals. When I could make my research, you will be invited on my party

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Don't worry. I am also in a very poor lab .
Many experiments I want to do...but I can't...
I am now sick of it and I have decided to find my own money to do it ( either scholarship or student loan).

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I, too, am in a new V.V.P.L. (very, very poor lab) <_< . One thing I try when I need a sample of some reagent or antibody is to go to Pubmed and see if anyone in my university or the neighbouring universities has done similar work. Sometimes, if you know who to ask, you might be able to get a bit of something.
mito 1

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<!--quoteo(post=55850:date=Jun 16 2006, 05:43 PM:name=Immuno06)-->

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good opportunity to ask you: what is the equivalent of 1 Cruz Credit? how to calculate with Cruz Credits?

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How could I publish a paper of research with Santa Cruz product if I dunno how to get it What if we reverse the situation, Santa Cruz gives us the primary antibody (for free) we need, then we can work with it, with finally we publish our paper? Of course a research proposal must be sent to Santa Cruz for them thinking that we deserve the antibody or not. I already have some proposal but I just don't have money to get the primary antibody. I have all things but that thing

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Hi Miss L,

You may try to pm "Immuno06" and discuss about your situation, as he works in the Technical service of Santa Cruz Biotechnology.

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I did but I got no reply yet :mellow:

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Be careful - you usually get what you pay for. Going on the cheap may compromise your work.

Hi there,

Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. does not give free samples of their products. The Investigator Award is a great way to get a free product, but you are correct, you do have to purchase a product first. We do warranty our products, however, so we will work with you to make sure that the product you purchase from us will give you usable results. If you purchase an antibody and you have any troubles, always contact us. Our commitment is to make sure you achieve success with your experiment!

Feel free to contact us any time!

Technical Support
Santa Cruz Biotechnology
scbt@scbt.com
1-800-457-3801 ext. 2

SCBT Technical Support on Feb 13 2009, 09:43 AM said:

Santa Cruz is one of the biggest antibody companies, that's what everybody knows, but I don't know why it took you 5 months to deliver an antibody to me. I am in east asia, and we know the problem wasn't the supplier as Santa cruz was out of stock for that specific antibody. this is however a little bit confusing because the antibody that we ordered was a very popular antibody and there are many publications with it. nobody took responsibility and santa cruz never apologized for the delay.

Curtis on Feb 13 2009, 10:19 AM said:

Hi again!

So sorry to hear that, Curtis! I am surprised no one apologized or took responsibility for the long wait, so I wish to extend an apology at this time. It is very very rare that a product is on backorder for that long, but they are biological reagents, so there are many reasons why a product can be delayed much longer than expected. Which product is it? Did you order it directly from us or via one of our distributors?
Feel free to contact us directly if you have more questions regarding your product!

Technical Support
Santa Cruz Biotechnology
scbt@scbt.com or asia@scbt.com
1-800-457-3801 ext. 2

hello,
thank you very much for your reply

I ordered polyclonal anti-Bax N20 raised in rabbit. I ordered via your agent, Biosyntech in Singapore.
I already purchased the product and it's working very fine.
Thanks
Curtis.

Hi Curtis,

I am glad to hear that you received the antibody and that it's working for you. If you do encounter any problems with the antibody, please contact Biosyntecg immediately and they will be glad to assist you.

Thank you!

SCBT Technical Support

Curtis on Feb 24 2009, 09:41 PM said:

Hi Everyone!

 

I hope those who posted looking for free antibodies are still here.

 

It's strange how we have not had many request for our free antibody scheme, yet some researchers are desperately trying to obtain some.

 

Our scheme is free to all UK customers (£40.00 for overseas)---we supply a sample size, i.e, 20ul volume of an antibody (s) in return for your antibody performance data, i.e, let us know whether it worked well or not.

 

http://www.stjohnslabs.com/services/Premier-Partners-Scheme

 

This scheme is still available- you can email me directly meiyee.leung@stjohnslabs.com

 

All the best