by McGill University

Lab work. Credit: The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital)

Structural Genomics Consortium researchers at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill University, in collaboration with scientists from 11 major antibody manufacturers representing approximately 80% of global renewable antibody production, have developed and standardized an Open Science platform to characterize research antibodies.

This platform, designed to evaluate antibody specificity, aims to tackle a critical challenge in biomedical research reproducibility. The approach is published in Nature Protocols.

Antibodies, essential tools in life sciences, are typically used to detect or capture specific proteins in complex biological samples. However, many antibodies currently available—among the 7.7 million produced by commercial manufacturers—lack adequate specificity, leading to off-target effects. The resulting impact is significant, with an estimated $1 billion of research funding wasted annually on non-specific antibodies.

Peter McPherson, Carl Laflamme, and Riham Ayoubi, lead scientists on the study, developed the antibody characterization platform under the public-good initiative YCharOS (Antibody Characterization through Open Science). For any given protein target, YCharOS compares all commercially available antibodies from their industry partners in side-by-side testing. This standardized characterization process involves knockout (KO) cell lines and evaluates antibodies across key applications such as immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence. This initiative marks the first large-scale collaboration among competitors in the antibody industry.

To date, the YCharOS team has tested approximately 1,200 antibodies against 120 protein targets. The 11 antibody manufacturers, coupled with an additional KO cell supplier, have collectively contributed over $2 million in-kind to the project.

The Open Science approach supports the expansion of antibody characterization efforts. The protocols outlined in the new study are now being employed at a second YCharOS site at Leicester University in the United Kingdom, led by Drs. Harvinder Virk and Micheal Biddle, where researchers are using these methods to test antibodies in additional applications.

"Never before have companies collaborated at this scale to improve antibody quality," remarked Katherine Crosby from Cell Signaling Technology, one of the 11 YCharOS antibody manufacturer partners.

Aled Edwards, YCharOS Board Chair, added, "Open Science can help turn this widespread issue into a solvable challenge."

"The enthusiastic involvement of our corporate partners demonstrates their commitment to providing only high-quality reagents to the research community," said Chetan Raina, CEO of YCharOS Inc.

More information: Riham Ayoubi et al, A consensus platform for antibody characterization, Nature Protocols (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41596-024-01095-8

Journal information: Nature Protocols 

Provided by McGill University