Searching Antibodypedia

Antibodypedia assists researchers in choosing the right antibody for the right application. The search engine enables selection of the best performing antibody for a specific application, through an evidence-based ranking of available antibodies and visualization of experimental validation results accompanying them for comparison and decision making. 

Selecting antibodies

The database comprises publicly available antibodies from commercial and academic vendors. Each search generates a list of gene products matching the search criteria and corresponding antibodies. The search engine returns antibodies for specific application or any immune-based application as a list.  All antibodies targeting the selected gene are ranked according to their performance (see evidence-based ranking of antibodies).

Search for antibodies against:

• Antibodies against a specific target are searched for, by entering the gene or protein name.

• Antibodies against all human gene-products are accessed if no text is entered into the search box.

• Antibodies against all gene-products encoded by a particular (human) chromosome are accessed through Advanced Search by selecting 'Chromosome' and chromosome number in the 'Field' and 'Term' scroll down buttons respectively.

• Antibodies against all gene-products within a specific protein family are accessed through Advanced Search by selecting 'Protein class' and a specific protein class in the 'Field' and 'Term' scroll down buttons respectively.

• Antibodies targeting gene-products with redundant names are accessed by entering the information into the search box and selecting AND as well as any relevant gene-specific attributes from the 'Field' scroll down buttons.

Search results

The query results are organized by gene name matching the search criteria. Free-text search results are returned by relevance, taking into account names, synonyms and descriptions of genes. The results of a parameter-based search (such as  protein_family:"Transcription factors") are displayed in alphabetical order.

Evidence-based listing of antibodies 

Click on the gene of interest to access the list of antibodies available against the target.  The antibodies are displayed ranked based on a scoring system. If antibodies from two independent providers have identical scores, the order is determined by the score of the second best antibody from the same providers.

Antibody information

Details about specific antibodies is displayed on a dedicated page when selecting the antibody of interest.

Refining the search results

• Antibody search results are refined by the use of filters located in the left panel on the webpage e.g. application, validation method, reference, provider, etc.
• Additional antibody features are displayed by selecting from the options within 'Show additional columns'.
• Checkboxes to the left of each antibody listing permit'cross-comparison of their attributes.

Filters

Antibody search results can be filtered by application, presence of references, provider, host, reactivity and antibody type/ clonality. 'OR' searches are possible for all categories but references ('yes' or 'no'). Please note that antibodies recommended for RNA IP are listed under 'Immunoprecipitation'.