Innovation
Helping address the reproducibility crisis in research
We strive to deliver consistent, high quality products which support more reproducible science, accelerate progress and reduce wasted resources across the life science industry.
The ability to reproduce experiments is the basis of scientific knowledge, however, this critical process in scientific research is in crisis and we are leading the way to address this.
Global reproducibility crisis
The life science industry is facing a challenge with reproducibility; 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist’s experiments, and more than half have failed to reproduce their own experiments 1,2. Since so much research is built on knowledge from previous studies, this is a major issue. Analysis has shown that the largest cause of irreproducibility is problems with antibodies used in studies 3. As antibodies are essential tools, integral in discovery, preclinical research and in diagnostics, there have been urgent requests across the life science industry to tackle this reproducibility crisis.
How reproducibility problems are affecting global science
Since such a large volume of research is built on knowledge from previous research studies, problems with false results and reproducing experiments are undermining scientific advancement and clinical breakthroughs.
On a practical level, issues with reproducibility for academic researchers can lead to missed research targets, grants and publication deadlines; all affecting reputation. While in industry the impact can be felt at many stages of the discovery, development and manufacturing phases. Example impact can be reproducibility problems caused by poor quality antibodies that are used as tools for preclinical studies or biomarker detection which can damage and invalidate costly clinical trials.
Furthermore, poor quality antibodies and biological reagents result in wasted time and money which has a major negative impact on the productivity of the life science sector as a whole. As highlighted in a landmark white paper more than $17bn avoidable experiment expenditure is attributable to ineffective biological reagents 4.
Key figures5
Over $17 billion
Avoidable experiment expenditure attributable to ineffective biological reagents or reference materials
$3.4 billion
Estimated global market size for protein-binding reagents (primarily antibodies), 2019 (per annum)
$1.7 billion
potentially wasted due to 50% of commercial antibodies improperly validated or inactive before use, 2019 (per annum)
Creating sustainable recombinant antibodies
In order to promote reagent consistency alongside sensitivity and specificity, we have embraced recombinant technology in our antibody production.
Our recombinant monoclonal antibodies are specifically engineered using proprietary technology. This approach involves cloning the gene sequences for the antibody into a DNA vector and delivering it to cells grown in vitro to enable the antibody to be expressed consistently over time. Since our antibodies are produced this way they offer an essentially limitless supply of the antibody which can be repeatedly manufactured, ensuring lot-to-lot consistency and supporting long-term security of supply.
The long-term consistency and availability of any reagent, including antibodies, is a key aspect for de-risking both diagnostic and therapeutic development. From translational research through to the clinic, ensuring reagent consistency is vital to success and producing antibodies that perform consistently and reliability throughout the entire process, over a period of many years, is essential.
“We are dedicated to providing scientists with only the highest-quality reagents and fully support initiatives that improve reproducibility and productivity across the life science sector. Consistency and reproducibility are integral elements of our product development, by manufacturing recombinant antibodies that undergo rigorous antibody validation at-scale and sharing our methods allows us to make a bigger impact on the industry”
Dr Alejandra Solache
SVP of R&D at Abcam, recipient of the 2021 CiteAb award for ‘Significant Individual Impact’
“We are dedicated to providing scientists with only the highest-quality reagents and fully support initiatives that improve reproducibility and productivity across the life science sector. Consistency and reproducibility are integral elements of our product development, by manufacturing recombinant antibodies that undergo rigorous antibody validation at-scale and sharing our methods allows us to make a bigger impact on the industry”
Dr Alejandra Solache
SVP of R&D at Abcam, recipient of the 2021 CiteAb award for ‘Significant Individual Impact’
Setting new standards in validation
Every recombinant antibody produced at Abcam undergoes rigorous testing to ensure appropriate specificity, sensitivity, and overall performance related to its application.
While our in-house antibody validation incorporates several advanced technologies a central element of our programme includes the routine use of knockout (KO) validation that employs CRISPR gene-edited KO cell lines to provide “true” negative controls.
This initiative was recognised with a 2020 CiteAb award for KO validation.
The specificity of more than 2500 Abcam recombinant antibodies has been validated using KO validation – an unprecedented scale within the industry.
In addition, we have expanded KO validation beyond our own in-house product manufacturing. By launching a wide range of over 2,800 ready-to-use, off-the-shelf gene-edited KO cell lines, and lysates, we are enabling researchers to KO validate their antibodies in their own specific systems. This is encouraging researchers to confidently carry out their own antibody validation – without the time-consuming need to first establish a specific KO cell line.
We are committed to data transparency and all our antibodies are supported with extensive information, validation and scientific insight.
The CiteAb Awards recognize the contributions of life science reagent providers to the industry in antibody data, validation testing and reproducibility
Shifting current paradigm through sector-wide collaboration
The causes of reagent irreproducibility are complex and addressing this issue at a global scale requires work and effort beyond technological advances. In order to better support the global scientific community, in 2020 Abcam started working with YCharOS,an independent, open science initiative focused on helping researchers in their validation efforts. Their goal is to thoroughly characterize commercially available antibody reagents for all human proteins. Using a peer-reviewed methodology6 the team at YCharOS are making their data freely available to the whole life science community in a transparent and open-access way.
In June 2021, YCharOS announced the formation of its Industry Advisory Committee, a consortium of experts from across the industry joining forces to help address the reproducibility crisis. As part of the consortium, Abcam is supporting YCharOS by providing strategic insight and scientific guidance, promoting best practice, and supplying key supporting reagents, including knock-out validated cell lines which are vital for thorough antibody characterization.
The characterization data published so far by YCharOS’s is publicly available here: https://ycharos.com/data/
Collaborating to develop new industry standards
Abcam promotes sharing good practice with the broader community. Alongside key thought leaders from across academia and industry, we have been actively involved in the Antibody Society’s antibody validation webinar series, highlights of which have been published in the mAbs journal 7.
In addition, the in-depth knowledge and learnings from our KO validation initiative have been further combined with our collaborator LI-COR’s immunoassay, western blot expertise to create valuable insights that promote industry-leading best practice guidance on antibody validation via Western blotting. These findings are accessible to scientists through the peer reviewed publication Journal of Biological Chemistry 8
In June 2020, we organized a Reproducible Science Week virtual meeting focused on championing best practice to overcome the reproducibility crisis. With the aim of driving change within the commercial antibody industry, we invited thought leaders from across academia and industry, to participate in an intensive series of workshops and panel discussions covering the current thinking on antibody validation and how best to set new standards.
The Future of Science Must Be Reproducible: 5 Q’s with the Experts
Dr. Jim Trimmer, University of California, Davis School of Medicine, and Dr. Aled Edwards from the University of Toronto share their views on the issue of reproducibility within the life sciences industry and its impact on the future of scientific research around the world
References:
- Baker, M. Reproducibility crisis: blame it on the antibodies. Nature 521, 274-276, 2015 https://www.nature.com/news/reproducibility-crisis-blame-it-on-the-antibodies-1.17586
- Baker, M. 1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility. Nature 533, 452- 454, 2016 https://www.nature.com/news/1-500-scientists-lift-the-lid-on-reproducibility-1.19970
- Baker, M. When antibodies mislead; the quest for validation. Nature 585, 313 -314, 2020 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02549-1
- Avoidable experiment expenditure white paper: https://endpts.com/sp/48-billion-is-lost-to-avoidable-experiment-expenditure-every-year/
- Freedman, L.P., Cockburn I.M., Simcoe, T.S. The economics of reproducibility in preclinical research. PLoS Biol. 2015;13(6):e1002165. eCollection 2015 Jun. Erratum in: PLoS Biol. 2018 Apr 10;16(4):e1002626.PMID: 26057340. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002165.
- Carl Laflamme, Paul M McKeever, Rahul Kumar, Julie Schwartz, Mahshad Kolahdouzan, Carol X Chen, Zhipeng You, Faiza Benaliouad, Opher Gileadi, Heidi M McBride, Thomas M Durcan, Aled M Edwards, Luke M Healy, Janice Robertson, Peter S McPherson. Implementation of an antibody characterization procedure and application to the major ALS/FTD disease gene C9ORF72. October 15, 2019, DOI 10.7554/eLife.48363
- Jan L.A. Voskuil, Anita Bandrowski, C. Glenn Begley, Andrew R.M. Bradbury, Andrew D. Chalmers, Aldrin V. Gomes, Travis Hardcastle, Fridtjof Lund-Johansen, Andreas Plückthun, Giovanna Roncador, Alejandra Solache, Michael J. Taussig, James S. Trimmer, Cecilia Williams & Simon L. Goodman (2020) The Antibody Society’s antibody validation webinar series, mAbs, 12:1, DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2020.1794421.
- Pillai-Kastoori, L., Heaton, S., Shiflett, S.D., Roberts, A.C., Solache, A., and Schutz-Geschwender, A.R. Antibody validation for Western blot: By the user, for the user, December 9, 2019, DOI 10.1074/jbc.RA119.010472.
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