The Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (or DSHB) was established in 1986 and is a source of hybridomas and hybridoma-related products of importance to developmental and cell biology. The Bank operates under the auspices of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development , though has been self-funding since 1996.

The intent of the Bank is three-fold⁵:

• keep the price of monoclonal antibodies low
• relieve scientists from the administrative and financial burden of distributing hybridomas they have developed
• maintain an archival resource of monoclonals that might otherwise be lost due to low demand

The Bank is currently administered by Dr. David R. Soll of the University of Iowa¹. More than 600 hybridoma lines are currently available⁴. Hybridomas are available for a fee (credit cards accepted), contingent on agreement to a compliance statement indicating that the reagents will be used for research purposes only, that published manuscripts citing use of the reagents be provided to the facility, and that such manuscripts cite the originators of the reagents as well. ²

Among the antigens targeted by monoclonals produced by Bank hybridomas are those associated with⁶:

• cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix elements
• proteins involved in neural function and development
• cell cycle proteins
• transcription factors
• ~100 Drosophila proteins

To give a sense of the prevalence of use of reagents from the Bank, full text searches of a number of peer-reviewed journals were conducted using the phrase "Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank" (2005-02-03):

• 297 manuscripts found across 100 years of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (1905-2005)
• 177 manuscripts found across 50 years of the Journal of Cell Biology (1955-2005)
• 357 manuscripts found across 12 years of the journal Development (1992-2005)
• 59 manuscripts found across 12 years of the Journal of Cell Science (1992-2005)

References

Note 2: Access to compliance and order form. Retrieved 2005-02-03.

Note 3: 2005 Catalog. Retrieved 2005-02-03.

Note 4: ibid.

Note 5: ibid.

Note 6: ibid.