Notice Number: NOT-RM-16-002

Key Dates
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Response Date: October 20, 2015

Issued by
Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)

Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain community input on validation assays for reagents generated by the NIH Common Fund Protein Capture Reagent Program (http://commonfund.nih.gov/proteincapture/). This program has produced a number of affinity reagents against human transcription factors. In an effort to maximize their utility to the scientific community, the Common Fund is considering independent validation assays.

Background

The Protein Capture Reagent Program (PCRP) is a pilot project to test development, optimization and scale-up of renewable protein affinity reagents for use in research and clinical applications. The major component of the pilot program is to produce high-quality, high-utility renewable affinity reagents against the majority of human transcription factors (hTFs) as a test set of proteins. Deliverables from the program's production centers include hTF or their fragments as target antigens and the corresponding affinity reagents in monoclonal or phage display recombinant Fab form. The PCRP portal (http://proteincapture.org/) contains data on the affinity reagents that have been generated and validation assays that have been performed. Currently, approximately 1175 antibodies have been raised against 473 antigens representing 411 hTFs. Validation assays include for Fabs: ELISA, spiked immunoprecipitation (IP), IP with purified antigen followed by mass spectrometry, and immunofluorescence; and for mAbs: HuProt protein array, oblique-incidence reflectivity difference affinity measurement, IP, and Western blot. Affinity reagents are available at low cost by the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (http://dshb.biology.uiowa.edu) and CDI (http://www.cdi-lab-com), and expression constructs are available at DNASU (https://dnasu.org/DNASU/). To maximize utility by the research community, independent additional assays may be useful.

Information requested

Three assays of current interest are: 1) Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) 2) immunocytochemistry (with and without knockdown/silencing) in multiple cell lines, 3) immunoprecipitation with mass spectrometry (IP-MS) in at least one of these cell lines.

Areas of possible comments include but are not limited to:

• The value of the three assays identified above in helping investigators to assess the utility of the reagents.
• Other assays that would be of substantial value and the rationale for recommending these assays.
• Cell lines to be used and the reasoning for doing so.
• Critical controls to be included in the validation.
• Criteria for prioritizing the set of affinity reagents to be validated.
• The perceived benefit of the current TF reagents produced by this program.
• Any additional suggestions

How to Submit a Response

Responses to the RFI will be accepted until October 20, 2015. Respondents will not receive individualized feedback. No basis for claims against the United States government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Unites States government’s use of such information. All comments must be submitted to: proteincapture@mail.nih.gov.

Response to this RFI is voluntary. All interested parties are invited to respond. Any personal identifiers (e.g., names, addresses, email addresses) will be removed when responses are compiled. Only the de-identified comments will be displayed. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should not be included in your response. The United States government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the United States government to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. Please note that the United States government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for its use of that information. Responses will be compiled and for internal use.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Tina Gatlin, Ph.D.
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Telephone: 301-402-2851
Email: proteincapture@mail.nih.gov