T O P I C R E V I E W
James75 We've just purchased 50 tubes of 2ug recombinant brain natriuretic peptide from ProspecBio, a company that sells lots of recombinant proteins... We ran a couple of cultures and got some unusual results, so decided to measure the BNP using an RIA, and found it was a thousandth out. No big deal, spoke to ProspecBio who said 'The BNP concentration was tested by spectrophotometer using a wave length of A280/e-coefficient. We have even placed 10% more in the vial just in case some powder get stuck on cap, vial walls etc… We disagree with the end user.'
Getting a little paranoid, we measured the BNP a further 5 times using different machines, including a CE marked triage system, and all the results were consistently 1000th out... We've got back to ProspecBio with this info, and they have amazingly said 'We can not replace the vials nor credit you for them since our results and way of testing are specified in the COA'...
This seems quite remarkable, as a spectrophotometer is not nearly as accurate as an RIA, nevermind a CE stamped one that only measures BNP!!!!
If you ever need a protein, please please dont use ProspecBio, as they'll rip you off with quantities of fresh air and refuse to look into it or refund you, be warned!
lovesthelab Thanks for the warning. A280 is highly dependent upon primary structure of the protein- it will be higher when the protein has a lot of aromatic amino acids and lower when a protein lacks aromatic amino acids. Get your legal department to write a warning letter, using words like fraud, fake, etc. You might get your money back.
been there, done that more times than I care to admit
PLapierre Thanks for the info. As Lovesthelab said, have your purchase dept write them a letter and if you are part of a large company or university, threaten them to close their account, maybe that will get their attention!
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers."
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If you ever need a protein, please please dont use ProspecBio, as they'll rip you off with quantities of fresh air and refuse to look into it or refund you, be warned!
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Where is this company located? I cant believe they can get away with it.
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new".
Quicksilver an anonymous hint to the company that they are being trashed publicly might create an improvement in services
how many scientists have read this so far?
note to companies - if you want a reputation like santa cruz's - keep up the good work
khenwood67 Well, currently this thread has been read 45 times.
Kathryn Henwood
Membership Coordinator
The Science Advisory Board
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