Many recombinant proteins (rec. proteins) are now commercially available. And many of them, mainly secreted soluble proteins, are biologically active, so there shouldn’t be any need to look for alternatives such as custom productions.
So the question is, why should you prefer a special production?
Well, there are several reasons (and they’re good ones too!).
#1- Control your source
By selecting a service provider, you clearly know where your protein is produced, by whom, and you can also customise your quality control (QC).
Protein production is performed in such a way that it must answer your requirements, and you have the guarantee that further re-batches will follow the same process. Inter-batch variability is low. This offers consistency in production and thus reproducibility in your results.
“How can you be sure that your present supplier is really the one producing, and how can you be sure that the source will always be the same?”
#2- Reproducible biological activity
By interacting with a unique production source you reduce batch-to-batch variability. There is no risk of supplier changes, which is a risk for products supplied under OEM.
You save long, time-consuming and expensive batch validations, and it gets even worse when the batch doesn’t fit and you need to spend time finding and revalidating new suppliers.
Moreover, some rec. proteins available on the market are not even biologically tested. The risk is spending time and money on a r-protein that will never fulfill your requirements if you are not correctly informed.
#3- Save money
The huge advantage of custom production is cost saving. If your activity needs mg amounts of proteins, of course you’ll negociate bulk prices, but a custom batch mainly remains cheaper after the first production. Moreover, production generally offers volume flexibility in order to face increasing needs at a reduced cost.
“If you look at your costs for recombinant proteins, and if you buy on a routine basis, maybe it would be interesting to compare them with a custom production?”
#4- Bring feasibility to your project
How often have promising projects been stopped when facing the costs of reagents? Recombinant production does not make any exception.
#5- Add some flexibility
Notably, the possibility to generate variants from a wild type protein is also an option when your project is moving on.
“Well, what about you? If this has raised any questions, just leave your comments below, I’ll be pleased to answer.”
