Stem Cells: a great tool for biomedical research! From the embryo at a very early stage of development, stem cells have two important capabilities: to multiply to infinity by simple division and to give rise to all kind of cells of the organism. These properties offer many opportunities, not only for the regenerative medicine but also for the study of genetic diseases and development of new treatments.

One of the first thing to do when you’re working on this kind of cells is to check if they are really stem cells, i.e their stemness. It can be highlighted by different markers by IF, WB, etc…

Today, I invite you to look at a popular antibody allowing you to monitor the level of differentiation of your cellular model as well as an innovation related to antibody array and stem cell research.

The use of validated antibodies are primordial for Breast Cancer research. Let’s see why, and which were the most popular ones in 2015.

Breast cancer arises in cell units whose function is to secrete milk, ducto-lobular breast units, mainly in women, with 89 cases per 100 000 (1). 5 to 10% of these cancers have an inherited genetic origin; 85-90% of cases (known as sporadic or non-hereditary) have environmental origins as yet often unidentified. A significant proportion of sporadic breast cancers is induced by hormonal treatment in women with a predisposition to this type of cancer. Some lifestyle choices (alcohol, trans fats, obesity, lack of exercise) or gynecological (late first pregnancy, not breastfeeding, etc.) also promote cancer.

If detected at an early stage, this cancer can be cured in 9 cases out of 10. Nevertheless, one of the difficulties of curing this disease is to identify the biological characteristics of each patient’s tumor.

Traditional methods to detect and purify poly-ubiquitinated proteins require either anti-ubiquitin antibodies or Ubiquitin Binding Associated domains (UBAs). Most of the current methods display rather low affinity for Ubiquitin (UBL) and show only little (if any) specificity for specific ubiquitin linkages (e.g. K63 or K48). To overcome these hurdles, Tandem Ubiquitin Binding Entities (TUBEs) have been designed.

Be patient, Valentine’s day will soon be here to brighten the winter season…

To count down the days leading up to Sunday Feb. 14th, why don’t you try your luck with tebu-bio’s new Facebook game ?

You might win some chocolates… the real thing, not virtual ones !