Custom Polyclonal Antibody Production | Thermo Fisher Scientific

Robust and flexible immunization protocols for custom polyclonal antibody production

We offer eight competitively priced protocol packages (immunization schedules for rabbits, goats, etc.) for producing custom polyclonal antibodies to peptide and protein antigens with our custom antibody service.

Custom Antibody Request

Production protocols

Our capabilities enable us to provide complete support for all types and steps of polyclonal antibody production: from peptide design, synthesis, and carrier protein conjugation to animal immunization, serum collection, titer analysis, and final antibody purification. We specialize in antigen design and generation of custom peptide antibodies and monospecific peptide antibodies to highly discrete epitopes. We also immunize with recombinant proteins or protein fragments provided by you or expressed and purified by us to generate antibodies in rabbits, chickens, goats, guinea pigs, mice, or rats.

Our detailed knowledge of antigen-determining factors (e.g., size, localized secondary structure, and antigenicity) allow us to produce custom antibodies with unmatched specificity, affinity, and assay utility. This expert service increases the probability that you will obtain a polyclonal antibody or monoclonal antibody capable of distinguishing among even highly related proteins within complex mixtures to characterize protein expression patterns using IHC, ICC, IF, FACS, ELISA, western blotting, or immunoprecipitation (IP, Co-IP, ChIP).

Highlights

Polyclonal antibodies—eight standard protocol options for immunizing animals, collecting serum, testing bleeds, reporting titer results, and delivering antiserum
Six host species options—select one of three rabbit immunization protocols or choose from guinea pig, chicken, goat, rat, or mouse protocols
Customizable and adaptable—add additional animals to any standard protocol; decide later to continue animals for additional boosts and bleeds
Full-service integration—combine any one of the immunization protocols described on this page with our complete set of services for antigen preparation (peptide design, synthesis, and conjugation; or protein expression) and antibody purification
Modification-specific antibodies—obtain monospecific antibodies, such as phosphospecific antibodies or other PTM-specific antibodies, with proper advanced planning and our robust selection methods

Details and additional information

Overview of standard animal immunization schedules and protocols for polyclonal antibody production: Each protocol applies to a single antigen injected into both animals (5 for mice), resulting in the indicated total output of serum (or eggs) for the multiple animals. Any schedule can be extended or otherwise adapted during the project.

Protocol	Sequence of booster injections, and bleeds per animal †	Total antiserum (mL) or eggs delivered	Final ELISA titration
2 rabbits, 70 days	2 boosts, 1 bleed; 1 boost, 2 bleeds	120-150mL	Yes
2 rabbits, 90 days	1 boost, 1 bleed; 1 boost, 1 bleed; 1 boost, 2 bleeds	160-200 mL	Yes
2 rabbits, 120 days	2 boosts, 1 bleed; 1 boost, 1 bleed; 1 boost, 2 bleeds	160-200 mL	Yes
2 chickens, 80 days	1 boost, eggs; 1 boost, eggs, 1 test-bleed	10+ eggs	Yes
2 goats, 120 days	2 boosts, 1 test-bleed; 1 boost, 1 test-bleed; 2 boosts, 1 test-bleed; 2 boosts, 1 test-bleed; Plasmapheresis of 1 goat	1,000 mL (plasmapheresis)	Yes
2 guinea pigs, 80 days	2 boost, 1 test-bleed; 1 boost, 1 exsanguination	20-30 mL (terminal bleed)	Yes
2 rats, 80 days	2 boost, 1 test-bleed; 1 boost, 1 exsanguination	6-8 mL (terminal bleed)	Yes
5 mice, 80 days	2 boost, 1 test-bleed; 1 boost, 1 exsanguination	5-10 mL (terminal bleed)	Yes
† Not listed are the pre-immune (control) bleed and primary injection, which initiate every protocol. Bleeds listed as "test-bleeds" are delivered to the customer but are not counted in the volumes given in column 3 (Total antiserum).

Choosing the host species

Rabbit: Used 95% of the time. Has the best ability to respond to the broadest classes of antigens. Rabbits also generally provide the greatest yields in the shortest period of time.
Chicken: Good substitute for rabbits when rabbit antibodies have failed to produce the desired reactivity or when researchers need another species antibody to label another protein at the same time or label a different subpopulation of the same protein.
Guinea Pig: Guinea pig antibodies are another popular choice for secondary species labeling. They are also well-known for their lower backgrounds in Drosophila research.
Rat: Rat is rarely used as a polyclonal antibody source, but they can be useful when only limited amounts of antibody are needed.
Mouse: Primarily used for generating monoclonal antibodies due to the small volume of antibody that can be obtained.
Goat: The large-scale production option for polyclonal antibodies. The main drawback of this option is that goats take longer to respond and reach maximize titer.