FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
How can I place an order?
All European customers are welcome to order their HPA Antibodies directly from Atlas Antibodies. Non European customers, please go to Sigma to order your Prestige AntibodiesTM (HPA Antibodies).
The easiest way to order is by using our online store. You can also send an order by fax (+46-8 54 59 58 51) using the order form that can be downloaded from our online store (Order Form) or send the order by e-mail to order@atlasantibodies.com. Information required is product number, product name, number of vials, full delivery address, full invoice address and purchase order number (if you have one). We also need contact information including contact person, phone number and e-mail address. Since we use FedEx International Priority for shipping, you are welcome to state your own FedEx account number when ordering, if you want us to use that for shipping. All duties and taxes are to be paid by the recipient of the shipment.
What is the lead time of an order?
Products are shipped from Sweden to European countries Mondays to Thursdays, with exception for national holidays. Depending on country of destination, please allow 1 to 5 days for delivery.
How much does the product cost?
The price for all HPA antibodies is €275, or 2500 SEK, per vial of 100 micro liters, shipping charges are not included and will be added.
Shipping charges:
Sweden 200 SEK; EU €50; Rest of Europe €60.
Atlas Antibodies uses FedEx International priority for all shipments outside Sweden. All duties and taxes are to be paid by the recipient of the shipment.
For more information about shipping terms, please visit our online store (Shipping terms).
How can I pay?
We send an invoice by mail after shipment of products. Payment terms are net thirty (30) days from the date of invoice. Wire transfer payment is preferred, but we also accept bank checks or credit card payment. Payment can be made using VISA or Master Card by sending credit card information by fax (+46-8 54 59 58 51) or email to order@atlasantibodies.com. The charge will be made in Swedish Kronor (2500 SEK plus shipping charges).
Do you have a distributor in my country?
All Prestige AntibodiesTM (HPA Antibodies) are co-exclusively distributed by Atlas Antibodies and Sigma-Aldrich in Europe and exclusively by Sigma in the United States and all regions outside of Europe.
What storage conditions do you recommend for your antibodies?
Store at +4°C for short term storage (1-2 days). Long time storage is recommended at -20ºC. If stored at lower temperature, aliquot to avoid repeated freezing and thawing as this may denature the antibody.
Where can I see the result from the IHC staining?
Please visit the Human Protein Atlas (www.proteinatlas.org) for the result of using more than 3000 antibodies, including all antibodies in Atlas Antibodies product catalogue, for protein profiling of human proteins. Each antibody has been used for immunohistochemical staining of 48 normal human tissue samples in triplicates, 432 human cancer samples covering the 20 most common cancer types and up to 12 patients for each cancer type. In addition, 59 cells and cell lines has been immunohistochemically stained and annotated for each antibody. In total, close to 700 immunohistochemistry images are available for each antibody. Please note that you can click on each tissue sample type and cell line/cell to view the corresponding images. Each image is then clickable for a larger magnification.
What is a "PrEST" that you use as an antigen?
The HPA antibodies are developed against recombinant human Protein Epitope Signature Tags (PrESTs) of approximately 50 to 150 amino acids. The PrESTs are designed to have as low sequence homology as possible to other human proteins and not to contain any trans-membrane regions or signal peptides.
Have the HPA antibodies been analyzed using Western Blot technique?
All HPA antibodies have been selected based on their performance in formalin fixed tissue immunohistochemistry.
Western Blots have been performed using a standard sample setup composed of five different protein lysates. Due to the high-throughput nature of the Protein Atlas programme, all antibodies have been analyzed using a standardized protocol in a single attempt without further efforts to optimize the procedure for target size, antibody dilution, blocking reagent or by inclusion of a specific protein lysate known to overexpress the target. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that certain observed binding properties are due to technical, rather than biological, reasons and that further optimization could result in a different outcome.
Do the antibodies work in mouse or rat?
Only a few HPA antibodies have been tested against other species than human, please contact us if you want to have more information regarding a specific antibody, e.g. PrEST sequence information to enable sequence homology analysis.
When I look into the IHC-staining pattern for the antibody I am interested in on the Human Protein Atlas, I see that it has received a validation score: "very low"? What does that mean?
The validation score indicates how well the quality assurance data supports the specificity of the antibody towards the expected human target protein. The HPA antibodies are classified in four main categories based on the immunohistochemical staining pattern, Western blot analysis and presence/absence of literature and bioinformatic data.
• High: two independent antibodies targeting one protein yielding similar staining patterns. Staining pattern consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Medium: staining pattern consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Low: staining pattern partly consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Very low: no experimental and/or bioinformatic data available, or staining pattern not consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
Please note that the description "very low" in many cases only reflects the fact that no localization information is available for the protein to be compared to.
You sometimes have two products with the same product name but different product numbers. What is the difference of the two products, and how can I choose which one is best suited for me to use?
Each antibody is directed against a specific PrEST sequence of approximately 50-150 amino acids. If we have two different antibodies with the same product name, it means that the antibodies are directed against different parts of the same protein. Please contact us if you want to know the different PrEST locations and if you are interested, please visit the human protein atlas to study the staining patterns of the two different antibodies.
What do you mean by "mono-specific" or "affinity purified"?
The HPA Antibodies are all polyclonal antibodies raised in rabbits. The mono-specificity means that the HPA antibodies are affinity purified on their respective PrESTs, resulting in antibodies only binding to their corresponding antigens. We do this distinction to separate "affinity purification on the specific antigen" from "affinity purification using protein A or protein G" that bind immunoglobulins regardless of the specificity of the immunoglobulins.
Do you produce antibodies on request?
Atlas Antibodies sell antibodies that are designed and generated within the academic project HPR (Human Proteome Resource). IHC images are released for a large number of new antibodies every year on the Human Protein Atlas website (www.proteinatlas.org). The company Atlas Antibodies does not produce antibodies on request.
All European customers are welcome to order their HPA Antibodies directly from Atlas Antibodies. Non European customers, please go to Sigma to order your Prestige AntibodiesTM (HPA Antibodies).
The easiest way to order is by using our online store. You can also send an order by fax (+46-8 54 59 58 51) using the order form that can be downloaded from our online store (Order Form) or send the order by e-mail to order@atlasantibodies.com. Information required is product number, product name, number of vials, full delivery address, full invoice address and purchase order number (if you have one). We also need contact information including contact person, phone number and e-mail address. Since we use FedEx International Priority for shipping, you are welcome to state your own FedEx account number when ordering, if you want us to use that for shipping. All duties and taxes are to be paid by the recipient of the shipment.
What is the lead time of an order?
Products are shipped from Sweden to European countries Mondays to Thursdays, with exception for national holidays. Depending on country of destination, please allow 1 to 5 days for delivery.
How much does the product cost?
The price for all HPA antibodies is €275, or 2500 SEK, per vial of 100 micro liters, shipping charges are not included and will be added.
Shipping charges:
Sweden 200 SEK; EU €50; Rest of Europe €60.
Atlas Antibodies uses FedEx International priority for all shipments outside Sweden. All duties and taxes are to be paid by the recipient of the shipment.
For more information about shipping terms, please visit our online store (Shipping terms).
How can I pay?
We send an invoice by mail after shipment of products. Payment terms are net thirty (30) days from the date of invoice. Wire transfer payment is preferred, but we also accept bank checks or credit card payment. Payment can be made using VISA or Master Card by sending credit card information by fax (+46-8 54 59 58 51) or email to order@atlasantibodies.com. The charge will be made in Swedish Kronor (2500 SEK plus shipping charges).
Do you have a distributor in my country?
All Prestige AntibodiesTM (HPA Antibodies) are co-exclusively distributed by Atlas Antibodies and Sigma-Aldrich in Europe and exclusively by Sigma in the United States and all regions outside of Europe.
What storage conditions do you recommend for your antibodies?
Store at +4°C for short term storage (1-2 days). Long time storage is recommended at -20ºC. If stored at lower temperature, aliquot to avoid repeated freezing and thawing as this may denature the antibody.
Where can I see the result from the IHC staining?
Please visit the Human Protein Atlas (www.proteinatlas.org) for the result of using more than 3000 antibodies, including all antibodies in Atlas Antibodies product catalogue, for protein profiling of human proteins. Each antibody has been used for immunohistochemical staining of 48 normal human tissue samples in triplicates, 432 human cancer samples covering the 20 most common cancer types and up to 12 patients for each cancer type. In addition, 59 cells and cell lines has been immunohistochemically stained and annotated for each antibody. In total, close to 700 immunohistochemistry images are available for each antibody. Please note that you can click on each tissue sample type and cell line/cell to view the corresponding images. Each image is then clickable for a larger magnification.
What is a "PrEST" that you use as an antigen?
The HPA antibodies are developed against recombinant human Protein Epitope Signature Tags (PrESTs) of approximately 50 to 150 amino acids. The PrESTs are designed to have as low sequence homology as possible to other human proteins and not to contain any trans-membrane regions or signal peptides.
Have the HPA antibodies been analyzed using Western Blot technique?
All HPA antibodies have been selected based on their performance in formalin fixed tissue immunohistochemistry.
Western Blots have been performed using a standard sample setup composed of five different protein lysates. Due to the high-throughput nature of the Protein Atlas programme, all antibodies have been analyzed using a standardized protocol in a single attempt without further efforts to optimize the procedure for target size, antibody dilution, blocking reagent or by inclusion of a specific protein lysate known to overexpress the target. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that certain observed binding properties are due to technical, rather than biological, reasons and that further optimization could result in a different outcome.
Do the antibodies work in mouse or rat?
Only a few HPA antibodies have been tested against other species than human, please contact us if you want to have more information regarding a specific antibody, e.g. PrEST sequence information to enable sequence homology analysis.
When I look into the IHC-staining pattern for the antibody I am interested in on the Human Protein Atlas, I see that it has received a validation score: "very low"? What does that mean?
The validation score indicates how well the quality assurance data supports the specificity of the antibody towards the expected human target protein. The HPA antibodies are classified in four main categories based on the immunohistochemical staining pattern, Western blot analysis and presence/absence of literature and bioinformatic data.
• High: two independent antibodies targeting one protein yielding similar staining patterns. Staining pattern consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Medium: staining pattern consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Low: staining pattern partly consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
• Very low: no experimental and/or bioinformatic data available, or staining pattern not consistent with experimental and/or bioinformatic data.
Please note that the description "very low" in many cases only reflects the fact that no localization information is available for the protein to be compared to.
You sometimes have two products with the same product name but different product numbers. What is the difference of the two products, and how can I choose which one is best suited for me to use?
Each antibody is directed against a specific PrEST sequence of approximately 50-150 amino acids. If we have two different antibodies with the same product name, it means that the antibodies are directed against different parts of the same protein. Please contact us if you want to know the different PrEST locations and if you are interested, please visit the human protein atlas to study the staining patterns of the two different antibodies.
What do you mean by "mono-specific" or "affinity purified"?
The HPA Antibodies are all polyclonal antibodies raised in rabbits. The mono-specificity means that the HPA antibodies are affinity purified on their respective PrESTs, resulting in antibodies only binding to their corresponding antigens. We do this distinction to separate "affinity purification on the specific antigen" from "affinity purification using protein A or protein G" that bind immunoglobulins regardless of the specificity of the immunoglobulins.
Do you produce antibodies on request?
Atlas Antibodies sell antibodies that are designed and generated within the academic project HPR (Human Proteome Resource). IHC images are released for a large number of new antibodies every year on the Human Protein Atlas website (www.proteinatlas.org). The company Atlas Antibodies does not produce antibodies on request.