Antibodies are an integral building block of much healthcare and the biotechnology research.

But they're expensive. Buying the wrong ones can have a significant negative impact on a research project.

There are millions of pounds of waste in research every year caused by the purchase of the wrong antibodies. So finding impartial evidence of the most appropriate and effective antibodies is important to researchers.

Avoiding costly mistakes

Unfortunately, most antibody search engines aren't impartial. They either allow antibody suppliers to pay to be top-rated, or base rankings on reviews which can be biased or difficult to collect.

In addition, many manufacturers aren't aware of all the things that their own antibodies are capable of.

To counteract this, Dr Andrew Chalmers developed a new antibody search engine - CiteAb - which makes choosing an antibody a much clearer process.

Comprehensive and impartial

CiteAb is unique in that it ranks antibodies by citations in academic papers. Ranking by citation means the only way an antibody can move up the ratings is to be used successfully in research and be cited by other researchers - providing a clearer idea of their effectiveness, free from commercial influence.

Users can search more than 1.4 million antibodies, filter results based on application and species reactivity, and then link to the antibody supplier’s website for further details.

Researchers using antibodies are encouraged to upload their publications to CiteAb – giving them greater visibility and improving their chances of being cited, while also helping other researchers using CiteAb to find good quality antibodies.

Working with local web development company Storm Consultancy and the University’s Enterprise and Knowledge Exploitation team, Dr Chalmers has developed a highly stable search engine platform that collects, and homegenises, data from the leading antibody manufacturers around the world, and processes it against academic citations taken from internationally verified journals.

The result is the world’s most comprehensive antibody search engine. CiteAb lists over:

• 1.4 million antibodies
• 120,000 publications
• 290,000 citations
• 85 antibody suppliers

A list that's being continually added to.

Growing from strength to strength

Since its launch in March 2013 the site has attracted over 19,000 visitors from major universities, research institutes and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across 90 countries - with a large number of repeat users.

Fast becoming the go-to place for antibody search, CiteAb has worked with antibody suppliers to build a strong working relationship which ensures data in the search engine is completely up-to-date and regularly maintained.

And there is potential for CiteAb to broaden its offering into other biotechnology products beyond antibodies.