Abcam wins Best Careers Website at the In-house Recruitment Awards

We are pleased to announce the Abcam has won an award for the ‘Best Careers Website’ at the In-house Recruitment Awards. The award recognises a careers website that clearly reflects the company’s brand ethos, whilst providing an engaging user experience that assists the applicant throughout the hiring process.

The judges said: “In an increasingly online world, the winner has created a simple, personal and effective website that candidates are able to easily navigate on desktop or mobile. The integration of social and videos added to the overall feel of the company’s brand.“

New multiplex immunoassays with Firefly® particle technology

Abcam’s multiplex immunoassays combine unique Firefly® hydrogel technology with Abcam’s high-performance antibodies to simultaneously measure up to 75 different proteins in a mere 12.5 µL of sample. With sensitivity below 1 pg/mL, the assay can provide rapid multiplex data within hours1, even in complex matrices with low target concentrations.

Unlike many other multiplex assays which are bead-based, these assays can be run on any of the most common flow cytometers, deliver 4–5 logs of linear dynamic range, and include free, easy-to-use analysis software. Additionally, researchers can choose from a rapidly growing menu of analytes to create a customized, ready-to-use panel to analyze complex inflammatory responses to diseases or treatments.

Due to shared antibody pairs, users can seamlessly switch between Abcam’s 90 minute SimpleStep ELISA® assays and multiplex immunoassays, while maintaining high correlation. For even more flexibility, Abcam offers its multiplex immunoassays as both a convenient service and as kits for researchers to employ in their own labs.

To find out more, visit https://https://www.abcam.com/multipleximmunoassay

1. Firefly® multiplex immunoassays have been demonstrated to assess 41 analytes per well in 3.5 hours (internal data).

Abcam enables faster drug and biomarker discovery with immunoassay research suite

  • Matched antibody pair kits provide assays with reproducible, sensitive and high-throughput detection

Cambridge, UK, 12 April 2016: Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, today announced the launch of a suite of immunoassay products based on its recombinant, monoclonal antibody pairs, as part of its commitment to deliver quality reagents to life science researchers at scale.

Matched antibody pairs are central to enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assays (ELISAs), which are widely used to study secreted biomarkers, and are fundamental to research in areas such as immunology and cancer. Abcam optimises its antibody pairs to avert the reproducibility and scalability challenges previously faced by researchers, which can cause variability in results. Abcam’s matched antibody pairs use recombinant monoclonal antibody technology, such as the patented RabMAb® technology, to provide improved consistency over polyclonal antibodies. The pairs are screened for sensitive performance and rigorously tested in a variety of complex sample types including plasma, serum and cell lysates.

These optimised pairs are already part of Abcam’s SimpleStep ELISA® kits, and will now be available as stand-alone matched antibody pair kits. The new stand-alone high volume format provides greater flexibility to researchers and facilitates cost-effective drug discovery, by enabling scale up from small pilot studies to large-scale high-throughput assay platforms.

Alejandra Solache, Head of Production, Development and Manufacturing, said “By providing researchers with highly optimised matched antibody pairs in a stand-alone format, we’re enabling scale up to higher-throughput assay platforms and faster drug discovery. Our recombinant monoclonal antibody pairs are inherently reproducible, providing reliable results the first time as well as supporting long-term use.”

To find out more, visit: https://https://www.abcam.com/kits/get-reliable-elisa-results-with-matched-antibody-pair-kits

Congratulations to Jonathan Milner, winner of CiteAb’s Lifetime achievement award

Abcam’s founder has won the CiteAb lifetime achievement award.

This award recognises and promotes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the research antibody industry. Jonathan founded Abcam after becoming frustrated by the lack of high quality antibodies available. He wanted to provide researchers with the products and services that he needed while working as a researcher.

Jonathan’s vision enabled Abcam to become a leader in the field, influencing the work of hundreds of life scientists globally to achieve their mission faster.

Dr Andrew Chalmers, Founder of CiteAb said “…Dr Jonathan Milner certainly created a ground-breaking business with Abcam, but has since worked tirelessly investing his own time and funds in taking life science research forward…”

Abcam also won awards in the following CiteAb categories:

  • Company succeeding in Stem Cell research
  • Company succeeding in Neuroscience research

AxioMx, (an Abcam Company) also won the Custom Antibody Supplier award.

Find out more about the CiteAb awards: http://www.citeab.com/awards

Abcam offers direct service to Singapore as part of deepening commitment to Asia-Pacific researchers

Cambridge, UK, 12 November 2015: Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, announced today the launch of its direct service to Singapore, as part of a global commitment to support local researchers’ needs. The new Singapore service will provide direct technical support and customer services, expanding Abcam’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

This service brings Abcam products one step closer to researchers in Singapore, with fast and direct delivery. In addition, it will strengthen existing relationships and promote further collaborations with top-tier research institutions and companies in the region. Going forward, customers will be able to purchase products from the Abcam website in Singaporean currency.

Abcam’s active collaborations in Singapore include an exclusive partnership with the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB). Announced in January 2015, this partnership is to develop a range of RabMAb® antibody pairs for the development of immunoassays for life scientists working in both research and in diagnostics.

Alan Hirzel, CEO, said “We are committed to listening to customers’ needs and ensuring that they have direct access to the highest quality life sciences research reagents and tools. This presence on-the-ground in Singapore is the next step in our global growth strategy. We are now providing faster, more efficient and effective local customer and technical support to the thriving Singapore R&D community and actively establishing further collaborations and partnerships within the local life science industry.”

As part of Abcam’s global initiative to improve local service and delivery, for the first time customers will be able to purchase Abcam products in Singaporean dollars and can order online at https://www.abcam.com or email sg.orders@abcam.com for more details.

Contacts:

Abcam
Francesca Axe
T: +44 (0) 1223 696000

Media enquiries
Dr. Lynne Trowbridge / Tim Watson
Instinctif Partners
T: +44 (0)20 7457 2861 / +44 (0)20 7866 7861
E: abcam@instinctif.com

About Abcam

Abcam plc is a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, with a wide range of products and expert technical support, enabling scientists to analyse living cells at the molecular level and to improve the understanding of health and disease.

Abcam is committed to providing scientists with an extensive choice of reagents and tools, with the most comprehensive, honest and up-to-date datasheets and customer reviews, fast delivery and helpful customer service & technical support. The Company’s catalogue evolves with scientific research trends and is growing each year to provide customers with products to meet their research needs. The range now includes primary and secondary antibodies, proteins, peptides, lysates, biochemicals, immunoassays and other kits. Abcam also supports its customers by hosting a range of global scientific events, forums and webinars, providing opportunities for scientists to get together and present their work.
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Abcam has nine global subsidiary offices enabling local services and multi-language support to over 100 countries. The Company was founded in 1998, and now employs over 820 people. Abcam was admitted to AIM in 2005 (AIM: ABC).

Visit Abcam to find out more

Abcam acquires AxioMx to access new growth opportunities and extend antibody leadership

  • AxioMx provides a unique, cost-effective, and proprietary platform to produce recombinant monoclonal antibodies complementing Abcam’s existing innovative production capabilities
  • This in vitro technology will enable Abcam to offer new tools to existing and new customers working in technically challenging areas such as infectious disease, toxins, nucleotides, and membrane bound proteins
  • AxioMx is already providing life science researchers, diagnostic companies, and drug discovery teams an efficient alternative to limitations they face with other systems

Cambridge, UK, 11 November 2015: Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, today announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of AxioMx, Inc. (“AxioMx”) (“Acquisition”) on a cash-free/debt-free basis for $20m upfront with further performance-based payments totalling $25m. These performance payments will be made over five years and are based upon successful completion of commercial and technical milestones. The consideration will be funded from a combination of Abcam’s existing cash resources and newly issued shares.

AxioMx, which was founded in 2012 by Dr. Michael Weiner and Christopher McLeod, has 28 employees and is based in Branford, Connecticut, U.S. It has created a powerful and scalable in vitro recombinant monoclonal antibody technology which complements Abcam’s existing antibody and immunoassay capabilities by targeting attractive and growing markets that traditional in vivo antibody production methods struggle to address. In addition to opening new markets, AxioMx’s antibody and binder development capabilities mean that high quality antibodies can be produced within weeks, which is significantly faster than in vivo methods.

AxioMx currently provides access to its technology as a service to research institutes as well as diagnostics and therapeutics organisations. As part of the integration with Abcam, AxioMx will be re-focused to develop highly validated recombinant antibodies for inclusion in the Abcam catalogue, combining this technology with our renowned digital platform, brand and customer service capabilities.

The ability to produce highly validated antibodies is a key element of Abcam’s strategy to increase the value of its products to the scientific community. After an initial period of investment and production scale up, AxioMx is expected to contribute both to revenue growth and profitability in the next few years.

The Acquisition is expected to close formally by the end of this month.

Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam, said: “The acquisition of AxioMx is in line with our strategy of acquiring businesses which enable Abcam to increase the supply of high quality products generated from our own innovation, and allows us to respond more quickly to our customers’ needs. This acquisition enhances our ability to serve emerging life science needs and supports our mission to be the most influential and recommended company for life scientists worldwide. After an extensive review of alternate scaffold and other in vitro technologies, we are confident that AxioMx has created unique, high quality and economically attractive methods to serve customers in research, diagnostic and drug discovery labs globally. We look forward to working with AxioMx to scale up their production and enhance our product offering.”

Christopher McLeod, President and CEO of AxioMx, commented: “Michael Weiner and I founded AxioMx with a vision to revolutionise proteomics by developing technologies to create recombinant antibodies in days. We have made great progress towards this goal, while also developing methods enabling us to generate antibodies against targets that can’t be addressed with traditional in vivo technologies. We are excited that our team will be able to utilise their expertise in support of Abcam’s mission and to serve its extensive global customer base.”

Abcam’s new anti-PD-L1 antibody enables deeper insights into cancer immunology research

  • Clone 28-8 provides researchers with knockout validated antibody to critical checkpoint inhibitor

Cambridge, UK, 06 October 2015: Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life sciences research tools, today announced the launch of its anti-PD-L1 primary antibody (clone 28-8). Produced using Abcam’s RabMAb® recombinant monoclonal antibody technology, the clone offers highly specific and reproducible antigen recognition to a checkpoint inhibitor critical to current cancer immunology research.

Programmed-death ligand 1 (PD-L1), also known as CD274 and B7-H1, can be expressed on the surface of tumour cells and binds to PD-1 receptors found on T-cells. This mechanism is used by tumour cells to evade detection and removal by the immune system. Abcam’s highly specific anti-PD-L1 clone (clone 28-8) has been knockout validated and tested in key applications such as Immunohistochemisty (IHC)1 and Flow Cytometry providing researchers with trusted data and ensuring the accuracy of their results. Developed through a research collaboration with a major pharma company, the PD-L1 antibody will give researchers a high quality tool to further explore the role of PD-L1 in disease progression and treatment. An IHC assay using clone 28-8 has been used to determine PD-L1 expression in clinical trials. Aside from cancer immunology, PD-L1 has also been implicated as having a role in autoimmune diseases and neurological disease.

Abcam is planning further industry partnerships, applying its RabMAb primary antibody technology to make emerging biomarkers available for major disease areas for both research and diagnostic purposes, including other checkpoint inhibitors. RabMAb primary antibodies offer researchers the sensitivity of the rabbit immune system combined with the specificity and consistency of monoclonal antibodies.

Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam, said “We want to make specialised, validated reagents, with a translational focus, available for basic research. Collaborating with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop antibodies to critical biomarkers is one important part of this strategy.”

“Our industry partners are working in disease areas with high unmet need, so we are ideally placed to combine their specialist understanding with our novel RabMAb technology to make clones accessible to researchers. In fact, our anti-PD-L1 antibody is highly cited in the market particularly for immunohistochemistry.”

The PD-L1 RabMAb antibody (clone 28-8, Ab205921) antibody can now be purchased from Abcam globally. To find out more, visit https://www.abcam.com/pdl1

  1. Phillips, T., et al., 2015. Development of an automated PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay for non–small cell lung cancer. Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology. 23(8), pp 541-9.

Contacts:

Abcam
Francesca Axe
T: +44 (0) 1223 696000

Media enquiries
Dr. Lynne Trowbridge / Tim Watson
Instinctif Partners
T: +44 (0)20 7457 2861 / +44 (0)20 7866 7861
E: abcam@instinctif.com

About Abcam

Abcam plc is a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, with a wide range of products and expert technical support, enabling scientists to analyse living cells at the molecular level and to improve the understanding of health and disease.

Abcam is committed to providing scientists with an extensive choice of reagents and tools, with the most comprehensive, honest and up-to-date datasheets and customer reviews, fast delivery and helpful customer service & technical support. The Company’s catalogue evolves with scientific research trends and is growing each year to provide customers with products to meet their research needs. The range now includes primary and secondary antibodies, proteins, peptides, lysates, biochemicals, immunoassays and other kits. Abcam also supports its customers by hosting a range of global scientific events, forums and webinars, providing opportunities for scientists to get together and present their work.

Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Abcam has nine global subsidiary offices enabling local services and multi-language support to over 100 countries. The Company was founded in 1998, and now employs over 800 people. Abcam was admitted to AIM in 2005 (AIM: ABC).

Visit Abcam to find out more

Abcam raises antibody validation standards to improve quality for life science researchers

Cambridge UK, 9 September 2015 – Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, today announced an industry-changing antibody validation initiative to address the critical need for antibodies with a higher target specificity.

A recent article by Nature identified that around 50% of budgets for protein-binding reagents are wasted globally due to non-specific and inconsistent antibodies1. To advance the identification of precision antibodies, Abcam is raising the standard in the industry by providing knockout-validated antibodies on an unprecedented scale. The Company’s commitment to improving validation standards means that a higher price will not be charged for these products. The initiative also enables researchers, who previously would have undertaken their own knockout validation, to benefit from significant time and cost efficiencies. Many of the antibodies that will receive this validation will be recombinant monoclonal antibodies, addressing both specificity and consistency demands of life science research.

Knockout validation involves using knockout cell lines which do not express the target protein of interest; therefore providing a true negative control2. Abcam has exclusive rights to precision knockout validation technology from Horizon Discovery Group plc to ensure that antibodies are highly specific to the intended protein target, providing researchers with trusted data that enables them to confidently select the right product and ensure the accuracy of their results.

Alan Hirzel, CEO, Abcam, said: “We always strive to provide the highest quality product and relevant supporting data. Our decision to validate antibodies with these exclusive knockout cell lines means we can give researchers an enhanced level of confidence that they are using the highest specificity products. Our hope is these changes will put more money back into advancing the research missions of our life science customers.”

“We’re starting to use knockout based validation today with widely-used antibodies, and our ambition is for this to apply across our whole catalogue. By using the latest knockout validated technology, validation on this scale is now an achievable goal.”

Knockout validated antibodies can now be purchased from Abcam globally.

To find out more, visit https://https://www.abcam.com/knockoutvalidated

  1. (1) Bradbury, A. and Plückthorn, A. 2015. Reproducibility: Standardize antibodies used in research. Nature. 518(7537), pp.27-29.
  2. (2) Validation data and associated images can be found on the website. Higher-resolution images are available upon request.

Contacts:

Abcam
Francesca Axe
T: +44 (0) 1223 696000

Media enquiries
Dr. Lynne Trowbridge / Tim Watson
Instinctif Partners
T: +44 (0)20 7457 2861 / +44 (0)20 7866 7861
E: abcam@instinctif.com

About Abcam

Abcam plc is a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, with a wide range of products and expert technical support, enabling scientists to analyse living cells at the molecular level and to improve the understanding of health and disease.

Abcam is committed to providing scientists with an extensive choice of reagents and tools, with the most comprehensive, honest and up-to-date datasheets and customer reviews, fast delivery and helpful customer service & technical support. The Company’s catalogue evolves with scientific research trends and is growing each year to provide customers with products to meet their research needs. The range now includes primary and secondary antibodies, proteins, peptides, lysates, biochemicals, immunoassays and other kits. Abcam also supports its customers by hosting a range of global scientific events, forums and webinars, providing opportunities for scientists to get together and present their work.

Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Abcam has nine global subsidiary offices enabling local services and multi-language support to over 100 countries. The Company was founded in 1998, and now employs over 800 people. Abcam was admitted to AIM in 2005 (AIM: ABC).

Visit Abcam to find out more

Appointment of Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary

Cambridge, UK, June 29, 2015:Abcam plc., a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, announces that it has appointed Suzanne Smith in the new role of Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary, based at Abcam’s headquarters in Cambridge, UK, effective from 6 July 2015. Accordingly, Jeff Iliffe will resign from the role of Company Secretary with effect from the same date.

Suzanne will take responsibility for Abcam’s licensing, legal, compliance and company secretary activities. The new role has been created in order to help Abcam achieve its global growth objectives, supporting the Company’s partnership and acquisition goals.

Suzanne brings a wealth of experience to Abcam with 20 years’ global legal, business and leadership experience within the life science industry. She previously held the role of executive director, legal at Actavis plc, where she had responsibility for the leadership of the legal function internationally. Her prior roles include legal director at Genzyme Therapeutics Ltd, general counsel at Phoqus Pharmaceuticals plc and group legal counsel and company secretary at LGC Ltd. Suzanne is a qualified solicitor and holds an LLB law degree from the University of Exeter and an MBA from the Open University.

“We are delighted to welcome Suzanne to Abcam’s leadership team. Suzanne’s knowledge and experience within the life sciences industry will be a valuable asset to our company.”

– Alan Hirzel, CEO, Abcam

Abcam launches multiplex miRNA profiling assays

  • Assays use innovative Firefly™ particle technology to enhance miRNA research

Cambridge UK, June 10, 2015: Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, announced today the launch of a range of multiplex miRNA profiling assays for high-throughput validation of miRNA biomarkers, based on Abcam’s new Firefly™ particle technology.

The new Multiplex Cellular miRNA Assay and Multiplex Circulating miRNA Assay allow researchers to rapidly and cost-effectively profile up to 68 miRNAs in each well of a 96-well plate, with readout on a standard flow cytometer. These assays offer an easier workflow for larger sample numbers compared to alternative methods such as qPCR, microarray and sequencing, which can be resource intensive or require challenging data analysis.

The Multiplex Circulating miRNA assay enables profiling of miRNAs from small volumes of crude biofluids including serum and plasma, with no need for RNA purification, while the Multiplex Cellular miRNA Assay is optimized to work with purified RNA. The Multiplex Circulating miRNA Assay is particularly suited for studies targeting low-abundance miRNAs or where the amount of each sample is limiting.

Customers can chose between fixed panels targeting specific disease areas or can customize their own panel. Abcam also offers a sample profiling service to enable researchers without in-house resources to obtain profiles with this technology. Analysis software provided by Abcam efficiently translates the raw data from the flow cytometer into a miRNA profile and does not require special bioinformatics expertise.

“We’re excited about the opportunities that Abcam’s Firefly particle technology will bring to global researchers undertaking miRNA research. We recognized a consumer need to enhance the tools available for miRNA research, and our new innovative assays provide a combination of performance, multiplexing, throughput, cost and ease of use not available from existing technologies.”

– Brian Taylor, Head of Kits and Assays, Abcam

The assays can be purchased from Abcam in the US and Europe and will be available globally in the course of 2015.

Find out more