Polyclonal antibody production involves immunizing rabbits or goats with a selected antigen. Subcutaneous immunizations continue until the animal reaches the desired response, measured by indirect ELISA. The resulting antiserum is purified to isolate antigen specific polyclonal antibody for use in custom assays.
Antibody Experience, Quality and Customer Dedication
Green Mountain Antibodies has been developing monoclonal antibodies from our Burlington, Vermont facility for over 26 years. To best support our pharmaceutical, diagnostic and research customers, we offer polyclonal antibody production services in rabbits and goats. The services complement our monoclonal service, allowing customers to develop antibodies in multiple species simultaneously.
All rabbit and goat serum is collected at an OLAW compliant, USDA licensed partner facility which holds EC 1069/2009 registration as a blood collection facility; making it easy to ship the serum to Europe.
Our goal is to partner with our customers in providing monoclonal and polyclonal antibody reagents for their pre-clinical trials and research. GMAb’s highly trained scientists manage the custom projects from antigen design through production, purification, and characterization. A close working relationship with our customers allows us to understand the project end goals, as well as modify a program mid-stream if the goals shift. Our polyclonal antibody production service offers the same flexibility and customer support given to our hybridoma development services. Peptide and protein immunogen projects are most common, with added experience within anti-idiotypic antibody development used for controls in ADA assays.
Typical Polyclonal Antibody Production Program
A typical rabbit polyclonal antibody production project begins by immunizing between 2 and 10 New Zealand White rabbits with the selected antigen. The number of rabbits is determined by customer timeline, antigenicity of the immunogen, and the volume of serum required. Appropriate antibody titers are typically seen within 3 months to put the rabbits on a production bleed collection cycle.
Rabbits are not euthanized or terminally bled until the customer confirms the appropriate amount of serum has been collected. Production bleed volumes are dependent on rabbit size and typically range from 12 to 25mL, increasing in scale as the rabbit ages. Total project collection volumes typically range from 250mL to 5L. Expected antibody yields are between 5-10mg per mL, with specific antibody being 5-10% of the total.
GMA also provides goat polyclonal antibody development when a rabbit will not provide enough antisera fast enough, or a different species is required. Goats follow the same protocol as rabbits; however, require more antigen for boosting. Production bleeds are ~200mL each.
Polyclonal antibody production project schedules and data will be shared with customers via Sharefile, our online interface that is always readily available for login. Your dedicated Project Manager is also available to guide and support you through the program.
Polyclonal Antibody Production: Purification and Characterization
Green Mountain Antibodies offers purification of rabbit and goat polyclonal antibody by Protein G, as well as antigen specific affinity purification using custom columns. IgG depletion, or an IgG polishing step, can also be included for polyclonal antibody production projects using monoclonal antibodies as immunogens.
While antibody yields from Protein G purification of rabbit serum may be 5-10mg/mL, antigen specific antibody from affinity column purification will yield 2-10% of the total antibody. Goat serum purification is generally higher, at 10-20mg/mL, with 5-10% specificity when purified over an antigen specific column.
Please contact us to discuss your polyclonal antibody production project and get a customized quote and timeline at sales@greenmoab.com. To share project details, send along the Polyclonal Initiation Form.
