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The
Company
When Vector Laboratories
was founded more than 25 years ago, monoclonal
antibodies, biotin-avidin products or
lines of lectins were not available in
the marketplace. In 1976, we purified
the first line of lectins and quickly
became the world’s leading supplier
of these products for use in studying
glycoconjugates in tissues, on cells,
or isolated from fluids or extracts. In
our second year we introduced the Biotin-Avidin
System. Realizing that the strong interaction
between biotin and avidin could be utilized
to form nearly covalent linkages between
a molecule derivatized with biotin and
avidin conjugated with a detectable label,
we provided the research community with
the first set of Biotin-Avidin System
reagents. These first products, consisting
of biotinylated proteins and avidin conjugates,
began a revolution in detection methods.
Our biotinylated anti-mouse immunoglobulin
and labeled avidin proved to be the most
widely used reagents for detecting and
characterizing monoclonal antibodies.
After several years, other companies recognized
their importance and began offering their
own versions of these products. More than
ten years ago, we developed and patented
processes that enabled complexes between
avidin or streptavidin and biotinylated
enzymes, designated ABC’s, to be
formed. This achievement established the
basis for the VECTASTAIN®ABC
family of products. While other detection
systems produced faint or diffuse staining
in tissue sections and required high concentrations
of primary antibodies, the VECTASTAIN®ABC
system gave dark, discrete, background-free
staining with extremely low concentrations
of primary anti-bodies. Improvements over
the years led to the VECTASTAIN®Elite
ABC - widely recognized today as the most
sensitive, reliable and economical peroxidase-based
staining system available.
Expanding on our expertise
in non-radioisotopic detection methods,
we have developed new and improved ways
of labeling nucleic acid probes. PHOTOPROBE®Biotin
is used to randomly label any nucleic
acid with biotin. The FastTag®labeling
system allows nucleic acid to be easily
and economically labeled with any marker.
The 3’ EndTag™ and 5’ EndTag™
system provide simple methods to label
only the ends of nucleic acid probes.
Remaining focused on our
goal of providing the most innovative
detection systems, over the years we have
introduced fusion protein isolation systems,
novel enzyme substrates, neuronal tracers,
mounting media, streptavidin products,
lectins with unique specificities, many
ultrapure immunological reagents, and
a variety of compounds for labeling, isolating
and detecting proteins, carbohydrates
and nucleic acids.
Vector
Laboratories’ major objectives have always
been to produce only reagents of the highest
quality, to have an accessible technical
staff to ensure prompt and personal assistance
in the use of these reagents, and to develop
products which would provide significant
advances over current technologies. We
never compromise our high standards of
product purity and performance for the
sake of expediency. Every item in our
catalog is produced with a strong emphasis
on quality control to ensure a consistently
reliable product. If any change in a product
is made, it is only to improve its performance.
Each
of our products is accompanied by a specification
sheet which includes analytical data on
the specific lot and other pertinent information.
Current references and information concerning
the most recent applications for our reagents
are available. We have included a business
reply card in the back of the catalog
which you may complete and return to us
if you would like to receive additional
information regarding a specific topic.
Much of the technical information for
our products, including material safety
data sheets (MSDS), is available on our
website.
Vector
Laboratories is not only committed to
producing reagents for your present needs
but also recognizes that the development
of new products is necessary for continued
success. The products included in this
catalog reflect that commitment. We hope
to satisfy the needs you may have tomorrow
with the reagents we are developing today.
Through a combination of our diligence
and your scrutiny, our products will remain
unmatched in quality and performance and
continue to be the standards by which
others are measured.
Newest
addition to our facilities enabling us
to better meet the needs of our customers.
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