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The OGA–YCharOS partnership provides manufacturers with independent, standardised, open antibody characterisation. Products that perform well gain visibility across our database, tools, and a growing network of researchers, funders, and publishers using them.
The visibility of antibody quality as a research integrity issue is increasing. Funders are beginning to require validation budgets and evidence in grant applications. Publishers are moving towards complete antibody reporting at submission. Independent characterisation data is becoming part of how researchers choose products. Manufacturers who engage early — by registering RRIDs, participating in independent testing, and making quality data visible — demonstrate alignment with responsible research practices and gain a competitive advantage as the ecosystem shifts towards evidence-based purchasing decisions.
A Delphi consensus study with 32 international experts — including manufacturer representatives — identified actions across the research ecosystem to improve antibody validation. Funders are beginning to require validation budgets and plans in grant applications. Publishers are moving towards complete antibody reporting and validation evidence at submission. Institutions are embedding training and policy expectations. As these requirements take hold, researchers will increasingly select antibodies based on independent characterisation evidence.
For manufacturers, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. Products with strong independent evidence will be preferentially selected. Products without it will face growing scrutiny. The OGA–YCharOS partnership provides the mechanism to generate that evidence independently, credibly, and openly.
We recognise that antibody performance data can influence commercial reputation and purchasing decisions. Our model is built on trust, transparency, and shared participation. Manufacturers are active partners — reviewing data prior to release and shaping shared protocols at monthly consortium meetings. This collaborative structure has been key to maintaining strong engagement across existing partners while upholding scientific independence.
We do not rate antibodies or recommend a single "best" product. We identify antibodies with potential for specific applications within our standardised testing protocols, and we always clarify that antibody performance is assay- and sample-dependent. The data is entirely open. Manufacturers can use all testing data on their own marketing materials.
Assign Research Resource Identifiers to your products at the point of manufacture. RRIDs enable researchers to uniquely identify and cite specific antibodies, facilitating systematic tracking of performance across the literature and supporting automated screening by journals.
The YCharOS consortium performs independent, standardised antibody characterisation using knockout controls across Western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry. Four academic laboratories (Leicester, McGill, Cornell, British Columbia) test manufacturer products side by side using community-endorsed protocols published in Nature Protocols.
The NC3Rs & OGA Antibody Champions programme places trained early-career researchers across UK institutions to promote evidence-based antibody purchasing decisions and high-quality validation experiments. These are the researchers who influence antibody selection at the bench — and they are trained to use independent characterisation data.
The OGA–YCharOS characterisation pipeline is positioned to identify reagents with potential for diagnostic-grade assays. The Leicester team has established partnerships with clinical cohort studies and proteomics groups to provide proof of concept in patient samples, discovering markers that enable reproducible characterisation of cellular heterogeneity with translational potential.
Dr Harvinder Virk, University of Leicester
Characterisation partnerships, Champions sponsorship, clinical translation, and general enquiries about working with the OGA–YCharOS programme.
Dr Anita Bandrowski, SciCrunch
Registering antibody products with the Antibody Registry, bulk RRID assignment, and integration with the RRID ecosystem.