Section Overview:
Fluorescence is the property exhibited by many molecules of absorbing light at a particular wavelength and subsequently emitting light of longer wavelength after a brief interval in time. Some atoms and molecules fluoresce naturally, but others must be artificially altered or marked in some way to instigate the phenomenon. In confocal microscopy, fluorescent probes play a paramount role in the detection of anatomical structure and physiological reactions occurring in living cells. An extensive array of fluorescent probes are available from a number of distributors, the best of which have been compiled into the following list of Internet resources.
Web Articles
- A. G. Scientific, Inc. - Founded in 1997, A. G. Scientific's mission is to discover, develop, and produce innovatiove biochemicals that accelerate scientific discovery, and with facilities in San Diego, California, it is located in the heart of a biotechnology research and development hotbed. The company, which aids researchers worldwide in the fields of molecular biology, neurobiology, cancer research, cell biology, drug discovery, agricultural biotechnology, and animal health, offers over 800 products via their online catalog, including a sizeable line of fluorescent probes.
- Biosource International, Inc. - Biosource International is a broad based life sciences company focused on providing solutions in the areas of functional proteomics and advanced drug discovery through the development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of unique biologically active reagent systems that facilitate, enable, and accelerate pharmaceutical development and biomedical research. The company offers a full complement of standard reagents used for signal transduction, cytokine, and immunology research, as well as a selection of custom products that includes oligonucleotides, antibodies, peptides, and cell culture media, buffers, and supplements.
- Biotium, Inc. - Biotium, Inc. is a biotechnology company that develops and manufactures fluorescent reagents and other specialty biochemicals. Their products have applications in many areas of life science research, including neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, drug screening, and DNA sequencing. Located in the Bay Area of California, one of the world's premier biotechnology centers, the company has been continuously expanding its line and currently offers over 300 products, ranging from fluorescent ion indicators, mitochondrial and membrane dyes, reactive dyes, enzyme substrates to biotin derivatives, and other related dyes.
- Clontech - A business unit of BD Biosciences, Clontech's mission is to help accelerate the discovery process by providing pioneering tools that enable researchers to ask new questions and investigate ever more complex systems than was previously possible. As a result, Clontech was the first to make available several key technologies, such as GFP-based reporters and gene array technology for high-throughput differential expression analysis. In addition, the company is a provider of a wide variety of products suitable for molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology, and cell analysis applications, including those that facilitate fluorescent labeling and amplification.
- Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories - Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, Inc. specializes in the production and conjugation of affinity-purified, secondary antibodies and purified immunoglobulins. In addition, the company offers a lineup of conjugated antibodies from a variety of species containing a wide spectrum of fluorochromes useful in confocal microscopy investigations. The products are sold primarily to scientists in universities and research institutes throughout the world who are conducting research in the plant, animal, and biomedical sciences.
- Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories, Inc. - Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories, Inc. (KPL) was founded in 1979 to develop, manufacture, and market high quality immunochemicals for life science and
in vitro diagnostic testing. The company was the first to commercialize affinity purified secondary antibodies, a valuable tool for biological research, and has introduced over 600 reagents and complete assay kits for protein visualization and nucleic acid detection that address the needs of cell biology, immunology, protein chemistry, and molecular biology scientists. - Molecular Probes: Invitrogen Detection Technologies - Molecular Probes, a leading worldwide provider of fluorescence-based detection products and solutions that advance biomedical and other scientific research, was acquired by Invitrogen Corporation in 2003. As part of the Invitrogen corporate family, Molecular Probes continues to serve top commercial and academic laboratories around the globe. The company offers an extensive collection of Molecular Probes products, including fluorescent probes and biochemicals that make possible advanced research projects in such diverse fields as molecular and cell biology, immunology, biochemistry and the neurosciences.
- OncoImmunin, Inc. - OncoImmunin, Inc. was founded by Drs. Akira Komoriya and Beverly Packard in 1994 and is located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The company, which has been issued two United States patents on its proprietary design for protease inhibitors and fluorogenic substrates, is a key distributor of PhiPhiLux, a unique fluorescent assay for apoptosis. The product is specific, sensitive, and broadly applicable, working not only for clear solutions, but also for cell suspensions.
- Pierce Biotechnology - Pierce Biotechnology is a pioneer and leader in many research disciplines including protein chemistry, sample handling, immunology, and chromatography. Life scientists and other researchers worldwide look to the company for innovative, high-quality products that include chemiluminescent and colorimetric substrates, assay reagents, dialysis products, coated microplates, cross-linking reagents, fluorescent labels and probes, reducing agents, and more. Pierce is especially strong in the protein chemistry field where it enjoys international recognition for its bifunctional cross-linkers, as well as products and kits utilized for protein detection and quantitation.
- Quantum Dot Corporation: Invitrogen Detection Technologies - Quantum Dot Corporation (QDC), which has been acquired by Invitrogen, offers products and services that employ quantum dot particles, which are tiny semiconductor crystals developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Melbourne, and Indiana University. These nanometer-sized particles have unique, highly desirable properties that make them a superior detection platform for nucleic acids and proteins. Quantum dot particles provide massively parallel, yet simple and inexpensive solutions for a plethora of problems in drug discovery and development. These problems include the need for more biologically relevant information and better sensitivity, as well as easy-to-use, high-throughput, low-cost assays.
- Sigma-Aldrich - A global leader in life science and high technology research products, backed by extensive technical information and service support, Sigma-Aldrich supplies over 85,000 biochemicals and organic chemicals to the scientific community. For over 50 years, the company has utilized their tremendous body of scientific knowledge to advance the causes of science. In particular, the company's Fluka brand of products, which include a range of laboratory chemicals and ancillary materials, has achieved an outstanding market position in certain specialty groups, such as peptide synthesis, enzymes for organic chemistry, reagents for trace analysis, and fluorescent markers.
- TEF Labs - TEF Labs is a research driven company formed in 1992 Dr. A. Minta to provide scientists with a choice for better fluorescent indicators at reasonable and affordable costs. This drive has led TEF Labs to develop new products that satisfy the deficiencies of current technologies by designing fluorescent and molecular probes that have better quantum yield, improved sensitivity and selectivity, reduced photobleaching, longer wavelengths, leakage resistance, and ratiometric properties. The company's products are currently being utilized for a variety of applications, including those in the biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, and neuroscience research sectors.