• Antibody production in vitro requires 2 – 4 weeks and starts at $3,000.
• Antibody production in vivo requires 6-8 weeks and starts at $1,400.

Antibody Production In Vitro

The expansion of hybridoma cell lines, once ELISA-based data has confirmed the specificity and general affinity of an antibody to its antigen, will proceed in culture using media supplemented by fetal bovine serum (FBS). While acting as an invaluable growth supplement, the wide range of proteins found in FBS, and some at relatively abundant levels will prove problematic for the purification of a monoclonal antibody (mAb).

ProMab makes every effort to ensure when using our in vitro monoclonal antibody service, you will receive a monoclonal antibody (mAb) of the highest purity. Therefore, once the expansion and establishment of a hybridoma are complete, cells will be gradually weaned away from media containing FBS to a completely serum-free media. As soon as the serum-free media growth characteristics of the hybridoma line approximate those of cells in the presence of FBS, cell growth will continue either in shake-flasks or in spinner flasks (while monoclonal antibodies, mAb, the yield would often dictate a preference for the use of spinner flasks, growth properties of specific hybridoma’s will require the use of the shake flask exclusively). As cells continue to grow, media will be withdrawn and replaced continuously until a minimum volume of 1 liter of antibody-containing media has been collected.

Serum-free media containing the monoclonal antibody (mAb) is then passed over a Protein G column, thereby binding, and purifying the monoclonal antibody (mAb) from all other media components.

Antibody Production In Vivo

ProMab's ascites production service is available in balb/c mice, with a turnaround time of about 6 – 8 weeks. While the number of purified antibodies obtained from 10 mice typically ranges between 10 – 50 mg, yield is greatly dependent on the productivity of each unique hybridoma cell line.