Bio-Rad expands TrailBlazer kit range for antibody conjugation to StarBright dyes
Bio-Rad Laboratories has announced the expansion of its TrailBlazer™ StarBright Dye Label Kits, broadening the range of options available to researchers requiring flexible antibody conjugation to premium fluorophores. The expanded portfolio, now fully commercially available in Europe, brings the total number of TrailBlazer StarBright Dye Label Kits to 32.
Conjugation chemistry and mechanism
The kits are designed for use in combination with Bio-Rad’s TrailBlazer Tag Kit, employing SpyTag and SpyCatcher technology to conjugate a StarBright Dye to an antibody of the researcher’s choice. This approach yields highly stable conjugated antibodies suitable for downstream applications in flow cytometry and fluorescent western blotting.
The expanded range provides access to Bio-Rad’s StarBright UltraViolet, Violet, Blue, Yellow, and Red Dyes, facilitating panel design across a broad spectrum of experimental configurations – including those where commercially available antiody-fluorophore combinations are limited.
“The expansion of our TrailBlazer StarBright Dye Label Kit portfolio, now totalling 32 kits, offers our customers a more flexible solution for panel design, providing all the benefits of StarBright Dyes for any antibody of choice,” said Hilary Mavor, Marketing Director, Life Science Group, Bio-Rad. “By offering broad antibody compatibility and long-term stability, the additional TrailBlazer StarBright Dye Label Kits will enable generation of consistent and high-quality conjugated antibodies for flow cytometry and fluorescent western blot applications.”
StarBright dye performance characteristics
StarBright Dyes are proprietary fluorescent nanoparticles conjugated to flow-validated antibodies against key immunological targets. They offer narrow excitation and emission profiles, enabling precise resolution of cell populations whilst minimising spill-over and spreading. The dyes are compatible with most experimental protocols and flow cytometers, including the Bio-Rad ZE5 Cell Analyser, without requiring special buffers.
Additional performance attributes include resistance to photobleaching, no loss of signal following fixation, and minimal lot-to-lot variation – properties that support reproducible staining across experimental runs.
Western blot applications
For fluorescent western blotting, StarBright Blue 700 and StarBright Blue 520 are available labelled to anti-mouse and anti-rabbit secondary antibodies. These are configured for use with the ChemiDoc™ MP and ChemiDoc Go Imagers, enabling sensitive fluorescent detection with short exposure times.
The expanded TrailBlazer kit range is intended to serve researchers across both academic and industrial settings, offering a standardised approach to custom antibody-fluorophore conjugation where off-the-shelf options do not meet panel design requirements.
For more information, visit: www.bio-radantibodies.com/tbkits
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