The mission of the NeuroMab facility is to provide a unique neuroscience-based approach to generating mouse monoclonal antibodies optimized for use in mammalian brain (NeuroMabs). NeuroMabs are generated from mice immunized with synthetic and recombinant immunogens corresponding to components of the neuronal proteome as predicted from genomic and other large-scale cloning efforts. Comprehensive biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses of human, primate and non-primate mammalian brain are incorporated into the initial NeuroMab screening procedure. This yields a subset of mouse mAbs that are optimized for use in brain (i.e. NeuroMabs): for immunocytochemical-based imaging studies of protein localization in adult, developing and pathological brain samples, for biochemical analyses of subunit composition and post-translational modifications of native brain proteins, and for proteomic analyses of native brain protein networks.

The NeuroMab facility was initially funded with a five-year U24 cooperative grant from NINDS and NIMH. The initial goal of the facility for this funding period is to generate a library of novel NeuroMabs against neuronal proteins, initially focusing on membrane proteins (receptors/channels/transporters), synaptic proteins, other neuronal signaling molecules, and proteins with established links to disease states. The scope of the facility was expanded with supplements from the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research to include neurodevelopmental targets, the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research to include epigenetics targets, and NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research to include rare disease targets. These NeuroMabs will then be produced on a large scale and made available to the neuroscience research community on an inexpensive basis as tissue culture supernatants or purified immunoglobulin by Antibodies Inc. The UC Davis/NIH NeuroMab Facility makes NeuroMabs available directly to end users and is unable to accommodate sales to distributors for third party distribution. To see the catalog of available antibodies go here.

The NeuroMab facility is also accepting suggestions as to potential targets. Requestors should supply NeuroMab with a scientific justification as to the biological importance of the target molecule, the importance of these reagents to the national neuroscience community, and the availability and suitability of existing polyclonal and/or monoclonal antibodies. Also include a list of reagents (synthetic peptides, fusions proteins, full-length cDNAs for transfection in mammalian cells, samples from knockout mice) that will be made available to the NeuroMab staff to facilitate the development and characterization of these NeuroMabs. Submit this information to NeuroMab here. The NeuroMab advisory board, acting in concert with NIH program officials, will then prioritize the request in the NeuroMab queue.

The NeuroMab facility serves as a resource to the entire neuroscience community by providing high quality reagents that will serve as critical links between information emerging from genomic efforts and future proteomic approaches to brain function. Moreover, the unique neuroscience-based approach that the NeuroMab facility will yield reliable antibodies that might not otherwise be available, and the comprehensive biochemical and immunohistochemical verification will save countless investigators the time, money and effort of attempting to use expensive yet suboptimal reagents in their research.