Custom Services

Cytoskeleton, Inc. has been a reliable source of custom protein production, assay development and antibody/ELISA development for past two decades. We support all of our services with a dedicated technical services department and years of laboratory experience in the fields of cell biology, cancer biology and neuroscience.

Cytoskeleton, Inc. customer services include:

Purified, high biological activity recombinant proteins. 

Enzyme Assay development.

Antibody and ELISA development.

Examples of assay development are:

1. Plant cell tubulin polymerization assay within 8 weeks.  Microliter scale (10 µl) and with a cv = 14%.

2. Small G-protein Arf1 and Arf6 GEF assays within 4 weeks with cv's less than 8%.

3. Microtubule stablization development for kinesin motor drug screen, resulting in one week room temperature stable preparation of microtubules. CV's less than 9% and day to day variation 8%.

 

Examples of protein purification are:

1. Cancer cell line tubulins are useful for developing drugs targeted toward cancer cells. We have isolated 1.0-5.0 mg of 90% pure tubulin from 50 g of cells.

2. Small G-protein Arf1 and Arf6 within 8 weeks to >85% purity, and suitable for 10,000 GEF assays (50 x 1mg).

We perform full quality control, which includes:

1. Full quantitation of yield, in mg per g tissue.

2. PAGE-SDS of purified proteins, stained with coomassie blue and scanned with a densitometer, to estimate purity.

3. Biological activity determination depending on the requirements of the customer.

Delivery time
Delivery time usually depends on the protein or type of assay, but 4 to 8 weeks is normal.

Price
The price depends on the quantity and quality of the protein required, and also on whether the preparation is simple or complex. The normal range is $8K to 12K. However, there are circumstances where we may consider a lower cost if we can introduce the protein into our range of products. There is an initial deposit of 50% of the total cost which is non-refundable. The remaining 50% is due 30 days after the product has been delivered.

Please send an e-mail describing your requirements to tservice@cytoskeleton.com

Cytoskeleton provides custom services on a confidential basis, as such there are limited published citations of our work. Representative examples of publications coming from our services are 1) Tubulin polymerization assays (ref.1)  and plant tubulin purification (ref.2).   We can also provide professional references of services performed upon request.

References:

1)  In Vitro and In Vivo Anticancer Activities of Synthetic Macrocyclic Ketone Analogues of Halichondrin B1. CANCER RESEARCH 61, 1013–1021, February 1, 2001. Murray J. Towle, Kathleen A. Salvato, Jacqueline Budrow, Bruce F. Wels, Galina Kuznetsov, Kimberley K. Aalfs, Susan Welsh, Wanjun Zheng, Boris M. Seletsky, Monica H. Palme, Gregory J. Habgood, Lori A. Singer, Lucian V. DiPietro, Yuan Wang, Jack J. Chen, David A. Quincy, Ashley Davis, Kentaro Yoshimatsu, Yoshito Kishi, Melvin J. Yu, and Bruce A. Littlefield2 (2001).

2) The herbicide flamprop-M-methyl has a new antimicrotubule mechanism of action. Stefan Tresch, Ricarda Niggeweg and Klaus Grossmann. Pest Manag Sci 64:1195–1203 (2008).

Cytoskeleton, Inc. has been a reliable source of protein, assays and drug screening services for nearly two decades. Past clients include:

Merck         Eli Lilly         Eisai       Amgen         Abbott Labs        Zentaris       GlaxoSmithKline

Genentech       Johnson & Johnson       Bristol-Meyers Squibb        Pfizer        Wyeth

Question 1: What information do you need to send a quotation on developing an assay ?

Question 2:   Who will be my contact during the project ?

Question 1. What information do you need to send a quotation on developing an assay ?

Answer 1. Contact information, gene accession number, assay type, assay quantity and cv required.

Question 2. Who will be my contact during the project ?

Answer 2. You will be placed in direct contact with the scientist who is managing your project.