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Open-source antibodies as a path to enhanced research reproducibility and transparency
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Open-source antibodies as a path to enhanced research reproducibility and transparency

Meghan Rego, Douglas W. Houston, Melina Fan, Karl D. Murray and James S. Trimmer
New biotechnology, Vol.87, pp.121-129
07/25/2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.nbt.2025.04.004
PMCID: PMC12183686
PMID: 40252918
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2025.04.004View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Antibodies are important tools with diverse uses in biomedical research. However, open access to reliable sources of well-characterized antibodies with unambiguous molecular identities remains an obstacle to research transparency and reproducibility. We propose here a community shift towards open-source antibodies, analogous to open-source computer software. The tenets of such antibodies are that 1) they are available to researchers in a ready to use form, 2) the renewable source of the antibody (e.g., hybridoma cells or plasmid) is also widely available ensuring reproducible and cost-effective access to the same antibody, and 3) the antibody sequence is publicly available. With these criteria met, the antibody can be widely used with the transparent assurance associated with a molecularly defined reagent, and the code can be edited to generate antibody variants to meet researchers’ specific needs. We (the UC Davis/NIH NeuroMab Facility, the Development Studies Hybridoma Bank, and Addgene) have established a consortium to provide open-source access to a large collection of well characterized antibodies. As open-source software has benefitted both users and developers, we suggest open-source antibodies will have a similar positive impact on antibody based biomedical research. We encourage funding agencies to support initiatives to expand access to open-source antibody resources, and researchers to both utilize and to contribute to them, with a goal of enabling more reliable and cost-effective pursuit of research. •we propose a new concept of “open-source” research antibodies•defined as available in ready to use and renewable forms, and as antibody sequence•we describe our long-term efforts to provide open access to research reagents•we describe our recent collective efforts making open-source antibodies available•the overall aim is to improve research reproducibility and transparency
 hybridoma monoclonal antibody plasmid recombinant antibody research reproducibility and transparency research resource

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