The unraveling of the human genome has created new avenues of discovery. Very important advances have being made in understanding how and when these genes are up or down regulated. Unfortunately the biological and biomedical role of the proteins encoded by many of these genes is still unknown. The understanding of the interactions among the many proteins holds the answers needed to better diagnose and treat disease.

• What is the basic role of this protein?
• In which tissue and cell type is the protein expressed and in what cell types does it perform its function?
• In what part of each cell does the protein reside?

Antibodies are key tools in effectively understanding the role of these genes and their proteins. The inherent sensitivity and specificity of the antibody allows the scientist to search for, identify, and study the proteins they target.

Unfortunately, antibody development has lagged far behind human gene expression discovery. The availability of high quality, well characterized antibodies against human proteins is limited. Available antibodies are for the most part polyclonal with a more limited number of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) available. Monoclonal antibodies have highly reproducible sensitivity and specificity for their target antigen, a very important characteristic that affects the scientific value of any research or discovery made with the aid of that antibody.  The reproducibility of monoclonal antibodies strongly improves its likelihood of being chosen for biomedical applications such as diagnostics and therapeutics.