The Addgene Antibody Data Hub

By Rachel Leeson

Rachel Leeson September 12, 2024

If you’re using antibodies in your research, you've probably found yourself staring at a browser full of tabs, each open to a different antibody option. Or you may find yourself with only two options, but very little data on which might work in your application. It can be quite difficult to decide on which antibody to request for your experiment!

Addgene’s Antibody Data Hub

Addgene’s Antibody Data Hub can help with this decision. In the open-access Data Hub, researchers interested in the Addgene antibody collection can look at user-deposited data detailing how an antibody performed in an experiment.

Figure 1: The front page of the Addgene Data Hub.

Antibody data reports can be searched and sorted by gene/target, name, application, pass/fail rating, sample species, antibody species, or whether the results include knockout data.

Figure 2: Search options in the Antibody Data Hub.

Data reports

Each antibody submission is used to create a data report, which contains experimental data showing how the antibody performed in the submitted application, along with a brief description of the experiment. If that data was included in a publication, you'll find that information in the report as well.

See figure legend and text for details.

Figure 3: An antibody data report, showing the results of an immunocytochemistry experiment performed with the anti-Lhx6.1 antibody.

For a more detailed understanding of the experimental conditions in which the data was generated, you can scroll down the page to the materials and methods section. This section will vary slightly depending on the application — flow cytometry, western blot, immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, ELISA — but in all cases, it contains a detailed description of the experimental conditions.

See figure legend.

Figure 4: A screenshot of the materials and methods section for the data report shown in Figure 3.

At the end of the report, you’ll find a results section, which will tell you if the antibody worked under the conditions described above, and a short description of how the antibody performed.

Antibody result is Pass (the antibody worked under these conditions.) The results are described as "Equivalent signal strength and labeling pattern between parental monoclonal antibody and recombinant antibody.

Figure 5: Results for the data report shown in Figure 3. The antibody is rated "Pass".

Curating the data reports

Just like our AAV Data Hub, each data submission we receive is checked by Addgene's curation team for accuracy and completeness. The information is then formatted and published as a report with a DOI for citation. If you’re considering requesting an Addgene antibody, the Data Hub can help you decide if an antibody is a good candidate for your experiment. If you’ve requested and used an Addgene antibody, we encourage you to submit data showing how the antibody worked in your application. The submission process is easy, with simple, descriptive fields, drop-down boxes when appropriate, and can be saved at any point throughout the process, so you can work through it at your own pace. To submit, simply click "Contribute Data."

Screenshot of the first step in the data hub submission process.

Figure 6: Contributing data to the Data Hub is easy!

Here at Addgene, we love all data, including negative data, which can help researchers save time and money when selecting an antibody! We encourage everyone interested in the Addgene antibody collection to use and contribute to the Antibody Data Hub.