FAQs
Samples:
How should plasma/serum samples be stored?
Please store plasma/serum samples frozen at -70°C and avoid freeze-thaw cycles. We also recommend adding a protease inhibitor (e.g aprotinin) to help protect peptides in sample from enzymatic cleavage.
How long can samples be stored for?
For best results, samples should be assayed or used as soon as possible upon collection. For plasma/serum samples, we do not recommend storage for longer than 6-8 months, even if kept frozen.
Peptide Extraction:
Why is peptide extraction important?
Peptide extraction from sample is strongly recommended when using most of our assay kits. This is because primary antibodies for short peptides often cross-react with large proteins commonly found in biological samples (e.g. albumins, clotting factors). This can result in high background noise. Extracting your samples helps remove these large proteins, thereby reducing interference with the assay.
What materials are necessary for plasma extraction?
The following materials are necessary to perform plasma extraction: C-18 SEP-Columns (Catalog No. RK-SEPCOL-1) Buffer A (Catalog No. RK-BA-1) Buffer B (Catalog No. RK-BB-1) Each box of SEP-columns comes with 50 individual columns. These columns can hold 3 ml of volume and cannot be reused. One bottle of Buffer A and Buffer B is enough to perform 20 sample extractions.
Antibodies:
Do you raise your own antibodies?
Yes! All of our antibodies are raised in-house at our facility in California (USA). This gives us maximum control over the quality of our antibodies and helps us track any antibody back to its exact original source.
How do you raise your antibodies?
First, we syntheisze 5 – 10 mg of the peptide antigen. This is then conjugated to a KLH carrier protein. All of our antibodies are raised in rabbit hosts.
Tracers:
What is the radioactive activity of your tracers?
Our standard packaging for I-125 tracers is 10 µCi.
How should I store the I-125 labeled tracers?
We ship our I-125 tracers on dry ice. Upon receipt, please keep these stored at -20°C in its lyophilized form until it is ready to be used. Once rehydrated, please store at +4°C for up to one week. Due to its half-life, we recommend that the kit be used as soona s possible upon receipt.