CTCF (CCCTC Binding Factor) is a highly conserved transcription factor that regulates transcriptional activation, transcriptional repression, insulator function, and imprinted control regions (ICRs).

Therapies targeting the function of a small intestinal protein, SGLT1, might have the potential to treat diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart failure, and associated death—and we have next generation sequencing to thank.

CREB1 is a basic leucine zipper domain (bZIP) transcription factor that activates a target gene through a cAMP response element. As a key transcriptional regulator, CREB1 plays a role in a variety of cellular responses by mediating a number of physiological stimuli. CREB1 is expressed in many tissues and plays an especially important regulatory role in the nervous system by promoting neuronal survival, driving precursor proliferation, neurite outgrowth, neuronal differentiation and more. In addition, CREB1 signaling is involved in the learning and memory functions of many organisms. CREB1 is capable of selectively activating many downstream genes through interaction with multiple dimerization partners. Phosphorylation of CREB1 at the serine 133 site involves multiple signaling pathways, such as Erk, calcium flux (Ca²⁺), and stress signaling. Some of the kinases involved in CREB1 phosphorylation include p90RSK, MSK, CaMKIV, and MAPKAPK-2.

Announcements for this year’s Nobel winners started off with prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine. While congratulations are in order for the newly minted laureates, a bit of controversy is also stirring.

Autophagy is a catabolic process in which autophagic lysosomes, known as autophagosomes, degrade most cytoplasmic contents, including entire organelles like damaged mitochondria in protection of the host cell and organism. Autophagy is usually activated in the absence of nutrients and is associated with many physiological and pathological processes, including growth, differentiation, neurodegenerative diseases, infections and tumors. Light chain 3 (LC3) is a widely recognized autophagy marker. There are three isoforms of the LC3 protein (LC3A, LC3B, and LC3C) in mammals. They undergo post-translational modifications during autophagy. The LC3 protein is first cleaved by Atg4 at its carboxy terminus immediately after synthesis to produce LC3-I, which is localized in the cytoplasm. During autophagy, LC3-I is modified and processed by a ubiquitin-like system including Atg7 and Atg3 to produce LC3-II with a molecular weight of 14 kD and localized to autophagosomes. The magnitude of the LC3-II/I ratio can be used to assess the level of autophagy.

ABclonal Technology is pleased to offer numerous antibody products to study targets within the autophagy pathway, be it the normal functions within the pathway, the autophagic cell death pathway, or disruptions to autophagy that may drive disease progression. Many of our products have been peer reviewed by satisfied customers, including those who have used them to generate quality data for scientific publications. Please see some examples of our products below, and happy experimenting!

ABclonal Technology hosted its second lunch and learn at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, the second event of its lecture series. The lunch and learn, led by ABclonal’s senior principal scientist, focused on rabbit monoclonal antibody technologies, its advantages and development.