Abcam’s expansion continues with its fourth move on the Cambridge Science Park

  • New headquarters underlines Abcam’s optimism for the future

In June, Abcam opened its new global headquarters at 330 Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge, UK marking the latest step in the company’s expansion.

The new headquarters, at 25,000 sq ft, is double the size of the previous building, which was located just 200 m away. The additional space in the new building will provide sufficient capacity for the company’s anticipated growth over the next few years and allow it to better serve the needs of its customers.

In addition to administrative space, the new building includes sales and marketing functions, customer and technical support, web development and warehousing. With the continually growing catalog now standing at over 52,000 products, the increase in warehousing and logistics facilities was essential.

The new building is supported by Abcam’s own state-of-the-art laboratory, which is also located on the Science Park.

The move to Unit 330 marks the fourth time Abcam has moved to bigger premises on the Science Park, reflecting the company’s impressive track record of growth. Negotiations for the leasehold to the new building were handled by Colliers CRE on behalf of Abcam.

Jim Warwick, Abcam’s Managing Director, commented: ‘This move into new headquarters on the Cambridge Science Park marks another important milestone in the growth of Abcam. The move represents the fourth time that we have relocated to bigger premises on the Science Park and underlines our optimism for the future.’

Jonathan Milner and Jim Warwick

Jim Warwick, Managing Director, and Jonathan Milner, CEO, outside the new Abcam plc offices.

Winners of tenth anniversary competition announced

  • Three lucky labs celebrate Abcam’s tenth anniversary

Dr Fumiko, (Pathology Institute, Tokyo), Dr Koh (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr Smit-Rigter (University of Amsterdam) were announced as the winners of our birthday competition.

Read the full Abcam story.

200th employee hired

Licensing deal signed with Tepnel Life Sciences

  • Two year agreement supports Abcam’s range of kits and other non-antibody products
Over 500 kits now available
Check out our range of kits

Abcam has extended its global licensing agreement with Tepnel Life Sciences. The two year deal means that Abcam will continue to distribute Tepnel’s Diaclone range of products to scientists worldwide.

The agreement supports Abcam’s growing range of non-antibody products, which now includes proteins, peptides, kits, slides and lysates.

Read more about Abcam’s proteins and peptides

Read more about Abcam’s range of ELISA, ELISPOT and ELIPAIR kits

Grand setting for Japanese sub-dealer meetings

  • Events held at the British embassy on Feb 22nd and British Consulate-General on Mar 5th

Sales teams from our seven new Japanese sub-dealers found themselves invited to prestigious venues courtesy of Abcam. Two events were held, one at the British embassy in Tokyo, and one at the British consulate-general in Osaka, to give the sub-dealers an opportunity to learn more about Abcam’s history and the reasons behind our rapid growth. The British embassy (a gift from the Japanese government post Meiji restoration) was in a particularly impressive location. Standing opposite the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, it made quite a change from the sales teams’ usual destinations!

In Tokyo, the guests were treated to an opening address by the First Secretary Head of Life Sciences, and in Osaka, the Deputy Consul-General. Following this, talks were given on the extensive technical support Abcam offers, including the Abpromise, which the sub-dealers are now able to pass on to their customers. A representative from our marketing team was also present, giving an overview of Abcam’s website, product range and events, along with materials and information specific to the Japanese market.

Molly in Japan

Automated system to expand monoclonal production

Abcam and Beckman Coulter have announced a major bioscience collaboration – to create one of the world’s most sophisticated, automated systems for the production of monoclonal antibodies for use in research.

The move is part of the development of Abcam’s new, multi-million pound laboratory which will provide high throughput monoclonal antibody generation, purification and characterization. This expansion will allow the company to scale up significantly its in-house antibody production, transforming it into a world-leading producer of high-quality monoclonal antibodies to complement its existing catalog.

The key to the expansion is the ability to automate many aspects of hybridoma generation – at the same time as ensuring total quality control and reproducibility of the processes involved. To help make this possible, Abcam has partnered with lab automation experts, Beckman Coulter. The collaboration will involve installing four Biomek automated work stations customised for specific applications, controlled by Abcam’s Advanced SAMI® Workstation EX Software. This integrates all devices and liquid handlers and interleaves actions and plates to achieve maximum throughput.

All workstations are networked by a new Process Management Software and the new Data Acquisition and Repository tool. This allows the flow of data from application to application, managing complex procedures within and across Biomek automated workstations.

Monoclonal antibodies are created using hybridoma technology, first described by Georges Köhler and César Milstein in 1975. While it is already technically possible to produce large numbers of different monoclonal antibody producing cell lines, traditional methods are labor and consumable intensive and time-consuming.

As Jim Warwick, Abcam’s managing director, explained: “We have always produced a number of our own polyclonal antibodies. The extension to making our own monoclonal antibody producing cell lines will enable us to expand greatly our production whilst maintaining the high quality of our products.”

Abcam and leading antibody producer collaborate to make 12,000 rabbit polyclonals

As part of its efforts to continue developing the largest online catalogue of the best antibodies in the world, Abcam has entered into an collaborative agreement with a leading antibody producer to make around 12,000 rabbit polyclonals over the next two years.

The agreement builds on an existing partnership deal with this antibody producer to make 3000 rabbit polyclonals to phospho proteins and the matched non-phospho sites over the next five years. The extended collaboration will enable Abcam to add well characterized antibodies to around 12,000 different unmodified proteins to its catalog, significantly extending coverage of the proteome.

Abcam will be working in close collaboration with this trusted antibody producer to ensure that these antibodies are tested extensively and that detailed images and protocols are available to researchers. The collaboration is complementary to the production of antibodies in-house at the recently opened high-throughput production (HTP) laboratory in Cambridge UK, the first antibodies from which will be available for sale later this calendar year.

CLC bio customized software supports Abcam’s monoclonal development capability

CLC bio and Abcam today announced that CLC bio has met the first important milestone of the two companies’ collaboration: the development of a customized epitope prediction software solution to augment Abcam’s high through-put monoclonal antibody development program.

Through automation of labor intensive manual workflows and by applying expert scientific knowledge, CLC bio’s customized bioinformatics solution ensures a significant reduction in the time-to-market whilst ensuring that the antibodies are of the highest quality.

Dr Catherine Onley, Head of Product Development & Manufacture at Abcam, states: “We searched the market to find the best bioinformatics solution provider for this highly specialized project and I am more than satisfied with CLC bio’s performance. Their skilled IT developers and experienced bioinformatics scientists and project manager have developed an epitope prediction solution that exceeds our expectations. Abcam’s in-house R&D programme will benefit significantly from this. I look forward to the next phase of our collaboration, where we will fully integrate the epitope prediction solution with our LIMS system.”

Dr Jannick D. Bendtsen, project manager and Senior Scientific Officer at CLC bio, said: “We are very proud to help Abcam improve their R&D workflows and performance through this software consulting assignment. From a personal perspective, I’m thrilled to work on this Abcam project as it has been scientifically challenging. I look forward to seeing Abcam improve their competitive edge using this new bioinformatics solution.”

Parts of the epitope prediction functionalities will be included in future versions of CLC Protein Workbench and CLC Combined Workbench, which will facilitate epitope prediction in basic research. The unique Abcam-related work will be kept confidential between the two parties. The customized epitope prediction software follows CLC bio’s concept of providing highly specialized bioinformatics solutions, based on a highly popular and well-proven platform. The Abcam solution is designed as a plug-in that is then fully integrated with the CLC Combined Workbench, CLC bio’s premier desktop-based DNA, RNA, and protein sequence analysis and data management software.

Read more about CLC bio’s customized software solutions

Jeffrey Iliffe appointed as Chief Financial Officer

Abcam has appointed Jeffrey Iliffe, a highly experienced finance professional with a track record in the City, the healthcare industry and in e-commerce as its new Chief Financial Officer. Mr Iliffe, who has been working as a financial consultant at Abcam for the past 4 months, will join the Company’s Board on 20 November 2007.

Mr Iliffe’s appointment is the result of a planned succession in which, as previously announced, Eddie Powell will leave the Company on 20 November 2007 after almost eight years as Chief Financial Officer.

Jeffrey Michel Iliffe, age 45, is a qualified accountant who worked as a corporate financier in life sciences at Panmure Gordon & Co between 1989 and 1996. He then moved into industry, holding a number of financial positions at companies including the environmental consultancy Enviros Group Limited and the biotechnology company Plethora Solutions plc. Prior to joining Abcam as a financial consultant, he was chief financial officer at St Minver Limited, an e-commerce company that operates online gaming networks.

Mr Iliffe’s broad financial experience, including acquisitions, business integration and investor relations, is expected to be of significant value to Abcam as the Company continues to execute its strategy to become the world’s largest online antibody resource.

David Cleevely, Abcam’s Chairman, said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Jeff Iliffe as Chief Financial Officer and to welcome him to Abcam’s Board. I have worked closely with Jeff for the past four months and have been very impressed by his energy and ability. His broad financial experience, combined with his specific knowledge of e-commerce, means that he is ideally qualified to make an important contribution to the ongoing development of the Company.”

Same day delivery in Cambridge UK

Abcam is now offering same day delivery for scientists ordering from Cambridge in the UK!

  • Orders must be placed by 12 noon (UK time)
  • To all addresses in Cambridge UK
  • No extra cost to you!

We are working with local courier firm Outspoken Delivery to ensure that your antibodies and reagents get to you even faster and in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Using specially designed bicycles, your antibodies will get across town much faster through the Cambridge traffic and at no cost to the environment.

Same day environmentally friendly delivery in Cambridge
Molly thinks bikes are best!

The new delivery service means our products will get to you faster in the best possible condition. Our boxes contain protective packaging and ice packs so that your antibodies are kept at the right temperature and protected however they are shipped to you. All products are guaranteed by our Abpromise of 100% support.