Gulderen is right of course! Still, I usually also buy my FACS antibodies from Biolegend (directly conjugated primaries). As Ichiro says; very good value for money. They usually have the same clones as BD for a lower price. They also sell very small trial sized volumes, which is really handy when you want to test an antibody for the first time. I sound like a rep... but I really quite like them!
It all depends on which application you are going to use and which epitope you are trying to detect. The clone antibody is produced is more important than the brand.
You need to consider clone, conjugate, price, delivery time and support you will receive from the vendor...
Gulderen is right of course! Still, I usually also buy my FACS antibodies from Biolegend (directly conjugated primaries). As Ichiro says; very good value for money. They usually have the same clones as BD for a lower price. They also sell very small trial sized volumes, which is really handy when you want to test an antibody for the first time. I sound like a rep... but I really quite like them!
I agree with Gulderen and Susanne. I will just point out others important topics: 1- Sometimes, even with the same antibody clone and fluorochrome, there is a great performance variability between brands. 2- If you are working within an area that an panel consensus is already available (like onco-hematology), I would strongly recommend you to buy from the brands that were previously tested. 2- Finally, the best way to choose the best brand is to ask for a sample from different manufacturies and test for the overall perfomance on your settings.
Thank you for your useful recommends.I am very new in this area, but your comments really gave me some perspectives. I totally agree with the sample request.I should do some search about the distributor of Biolegend in our country.Thank you all.
If you specify your antigen of interest, it might be easier to find a researcher in the same situation who has some experience about antibodies available.
You might want to consider directly conjugated antibodies for flow. Unlike tissue staining, where you need to amplify a signal with a secondary, in flow the directly conjugated mAbs will give you a clear signal and you won't have to worry about non-specific background, which can be quite high with secondaries.