Agrisera News

Western blot workshop with Agrisera exclusive distributor in UK, 2BScientific

Interpretation of Western blot results, workshop with 2B Scientific

Agrisera at KBC Days 2025

Between the 11th and 12th of November, Agrisera attended the KBC Days, an annual interdisciplinary conference.

KBC is the Chemical Biological Center of Umeå University.
The main theme of the 2025 KBC Days conference was "Bridging Scales: from Quantum to Cosmos",

PhD students held 2-minute elevator pitches, presenting their work, and the best talk was awarded with Agrisera prize to MD and phd student Hanna Jerndal for the talk with the title: ”Longitudinal Assessment of Tubular and Glomerular Kidney Function After COVID-19 – a prospective cohort study”, from Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University.

Thank you to all who came by Agrisera's table to talk about antibodies and Western blot, or to collect Agrisera Educational Posters.

Agrisera will be holding the technical workshop "Interpreting Western blots like a pro: avoiding common pitfalls" – at KBC, on the 26th of November, between 13.00 and 14.00, in person as well as online.

If you are planning to attend this workshop, you are welcome to send in your Western blot questions in advance!

Agrisera at KBC Days 2025

Interview with Prof. Łucja Kowalewska

Prof. Łucja Kowalewska

Dr. Łucja Kowalewska is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, where she serves as the Head of the Department of Plant Anatomy. She specializes in plastid membrane dynamics and structural biology, using advanced microscopy, computational analysis, and biophysical approaches to study organelle nanomorphology. Her research focuses on how biological membranes self-organize into complex three-dimensional structures, revealing how their architecture directly contributes to biological function.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, where I serve as Head of the Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology and Chairwoman of the Council of the Institute of Experimental Plant Biology and Biotechnology. As a plant cell biologist, I specialize in plastid membrane dynamics and structural biology, applying advanced microscopy, computational methods, and biophysical principles to understand organelle nanomorphology.

Our research focuses on nanomorphology as a critical level of biological membrane organization, exploring how membrane structure itself serves as a direct source of biological function. We investigate the fascinating world of membrane self-organization, particularly the formation of complex periodic arrangements, with an emphasis on cubic membranes that resemble triply periodic minimal surfaces, known in differential geometry and topology. Through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges biology, biophysics, and topology, we aim to understand how biological membranes self-organize into complex, three-dimensional periodic structures and the molecular mechanisms that govern these transformations.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

My path into plant science began early during my bachelor's studies in biotechnology, when I instantly decided to focus on plants. I was deeply interested in cell biology, but I chose to explore this field using plant models rather than working with animal material, as I didn't want my daily work to involve animal suffering—although I certainly understand, appreciate, and support the necessary use of animal studies for both basic science and medicine.

My simultaneous interest in visual arts drew me to organelle ultrastructure, where I quickly realized that plastid membrane networks represent the most complicated and beautiful membrane arrangements known in nature. Yet, we understand little about the mechanisms behind their formation. Today, I don't necessarily think of myself as just a plant biologist, but rather as a cell biologist who is fortunate to work with the best existing model—plastid membranes—to understand the relationship between membrane nanomorphology and biological function, as well as the molecular basis of these complicated self-organizing shapes.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Agrisera antibodies are crucial to my group's work and have helped us verify many hypotheses, as they are always reliable materials supported by the excellent guidance of Dr. Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund. Agrisera is also remarkably open to discussing new antibodies that can truly help verify novel ideas and significantly advance our projects.

I believe the most important outcome from using Agrisera antibodies was proving the presence of CURT1 proteins in prolamellar bodies of etiolated seedlings—something that had been overlooked in previous proteomic studies of this structure. This discovery greatly enhanced our understanding of diamond-type organization formation, proving the role of curvature-inducing proteins in forming this special geometry. This finding was pivotal in demonstrating how specific proteins contribute to the complex three-dimensional membrane architectures we study.

- Any further comments?

My relationship with Agrisera spans over a decade and holds special significance in my scientific journey. My first poster prize, received as a PhD student during a Photosynthesis Research conference, was an Agrisera prize that included a Z-scheme poster signed by Govindjee with congratulations. I still have this poster in my office, and it serves as a constant reminder of that intensive but deeply satisfying time during my PhD journey. It also highlights how Agrisera has supported my research for more than 10 years now.

The collaborative relationship with Agrisera exemplifies the kind of partnership that advances science—one where a company not only provides products but also actively engages with researchers to develop tools that can push the boundaries of our understanding. This support has been invaluable in our interdisciplinary approach to unraveling the mysteries of biological membrane organization.

Links

• Prof. Łucja Kowalewska
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in biogenesis/architecture

How to interpret Western blot results? Workshop with BiotechnoLabs, Agrisera distributor in India

How to interpret Western blot results, webinar with Agrisera distributor in India

Agrisera Webinar series focused on Western blot technique, hosted by Agrisera distributor in Switzerland, Lucerna-Chem

Agrisera Western blot webinar with Lucerna

Together with Agrisera distributor in Switzerland, Lucerna-Chem Agrisera Technical Support Manager, conducted a first webinar in a series of three events, focused on Western blot technique and its optimization. Coming soon are Part II and Part III:

Part II Mastering Western Blotting Optimization: Expert Tips and Techniques for Better Results November 6, 2025 – 10:30 CET ~60 min + Q&A. Following topics are going to be covered: Blocking, antibody incubation, detection steps 4

Part III Interpreting Western Blots Like a Pro: Avoiding Common Pitfalls November 27, 2025 – 10:30 CET ~60 min + Q&A
Following topics will be covered: Band interpretation, antibody validation, troubleshooting unexpected results

Welcome to register and participate!
Registration link can be found here.
Recording of Part I can be accessed here.

Several international conferences were supported by Agrisera in October 2025

Agrisera supported the following international conferences in October 2025:

• Nordic Photosynthesis Congress and Algal Symposium, 20th-23rd of October, Danmark

• 13th Biology Graduate Research Forum, 23rd-24th of October, Western University, Canada

• 51st Annual Midwest/Southeast Photosynthesis Conference, 24.10-26.10 Marshall Indiana, USA

• 3rd Workshop Carbon Allocation in Plants, 27th-29th of October, INRAE, Versailles, France

Agrisera Best Talk and Best Poster prizes were awarded as well as educational posters focused on photosynthesis, epigenetics, protein extraction and Western blot. were available for attendees.

Agrisera supported conferences in October 2025

Interview with Prof. Simone Landi

Prof. Simone Landi

Simone Landi is an Associate Professor at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, the world’s oldest public university, founded more than 800 years ago. Their research focuses on how plants respond to abiotic stress and on enzymes involved in both central and secondary metabolism.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am Associate Professor at University Federico II of Napoli (Italy) who received a PhD in Applied Biology at the University of Naples, Federico II in 2016, and I was research associate at National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry from 2018 to 2019. My institution represents the most ancient non-religious University in the World (801 years old) funded by Federico II of Svevia. My research activity focuses on the response of plants to abiotic stresses and on the enzymes related to central and secondary metabolism. We worked both on model organisms and on recombinant proteins using classical and advanced approaches.

In my opinion, plant science is a cornerstone of research topics. The use of plants and photosynthetic organisms in general is of great interest in both basic science and biotechnological applications.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

We primarily use Agrisera as antibodies for Western blotting. Almost all of our antibody collection comes from Agrisera. We find them to be effective for plants and that the catalog is so extensive that we can almost always find what we're looking for. We also find it very useful to collaborate in exchanging untested antibodies that can be used experimentally.

Links

• Prof. Simone Landi
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in environmental stress response

Agrisera supported the 51st Annual Midwest/Southeast Photosynthesis Conference

Agrisera supported the 51st Annual Midwest/Southeast Photosynthesis Conference, which took place between 24.10-26.10 at the Turkey Run Inn at Turkey Run Start Park in Marshall Indiana, USA.

The conference became a platform to discuss new developments in photosynthesis research, from ultrafast spectroscopy and light capture to plant biology and carbon fixation. It was a place for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers to present and showcase their work and meet and discuss research with leaders in their field.

Agrisera was happy to support the meeting with educational posters focused on photosynthesis as well as protein extraction and Western blot.

Agrisera supported MWSE conference 2025

Agrisera celebrates 50 years of Chemical Store at Umeå University

Agrisera joined the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Chemical store at the local University in Umeå last Monday.

The store has been developed over the last 50 years and provides chemicals and solvents, glassware and laboratory supplies, liquid nitrogen, dry ice, gas etc., to all departments at Umeå University.

Thank you to all who took a moment out of their shopping to stop by and talk with us about antibodies

Agrisera at chemical store of Umeå University

Improved method of isolation of intact chloroplasts, validated with Agrisera antibodies

A group of researchers from India, published an interesting article recently: "An improved method for isolating intact chloroplasts from different plant species".

Developed protocol was optimized for several species, including Nicotiana benthamiana, Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Solanum lycopersicum and secondary metabolite-rich plants: Stevia rebaudiana, Camellia sinensis, and Sambucus javanica.

To evaluate purity of isolated chloroplasts different methods were applied, including: fluorescence microscopy, confocal imaging and subcellular fractionation assays. Purity of specific cellular fractions was confirmed using the following Agrisera antibodies:

Anti-Lhcb2 | LHCII type II chlorophyll a/b-binding protein
Anti-RbcL | Rubisco large subunit, form I
Anti-H3 | Histone H3 (rabbit antibody) (nuclear marker)
Anti-MnSOD | Manganese superoxide dismutase

Complete list of Agrisera plant cell compartment marker antibodies can be found here.

Plant chloroplast

Interview with Dr. Tatjana Kleine

Dr. Tatjana Kleine

Dr. Tatjana Kleine, principal investigator in the Plant Molecular Biology Group at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), studies how chloroplasts communicate with the rest of the cell during stress. Her work focuses on organellar gene expression and retrograde signalling, using Arabidopsis as a model system. In this interview, she shares how her curiosity for nature began at an early age, inspired by observing a small forest lake ecosystem at school—an experience that sparked a lifelong fascination with plants and their biology.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

My name is Tatjana Kleine, and I am a principal investigator in the Plant Molecular Biology Group at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich). My research is dedicated to understanding how chloroplasts—the cellular organelles responsible for photosynthesis—communicate with the rest of the cell to regulate development and respond to environmental stress.

I am particularly interested in organellar gene expression and the remarkable process of retrograde signalling, whereby chloroplasts send signals to the cell nucleus to influence gene activity. Using model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, my work seeks to uncover the molecular networks that enable plants to adjust to changes in light, temperature, and other environmental challenges.

By advancing our knowledge of these adaptive strategies, I hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of how plants thrive in dynamic environments—a question of growing importance in the face of climate change and the need for sustainable agriculture.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

From an early age, I was fascinated by the natural world—one of my fondest memories from school is a half-year project in which I observed an ecological niche: a tiny lake nestled within a forest and its surrounding environment. I have a lifelong curiosity about plants, which I paired with a growing enthusiasm for molecular biology, especially after discovering that it was possible to study and even manipulate plants at the molecular level.

Plants have always captured my imagination. They are indispensable to all life on Earth, providing us with food, oxygen, and vital raw materials. Their extraordinary diversity, resilience, and evolutionary ingenuity offer endless opportunities for exploration and discovery. Even as I focus on basic research, I am driven by the hope of making a small but meaningful contribution to our understanding of plant life.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

I believe that anyone interested in plant biology either uses—or should consider using—Agrisera antibodies. I initially turned to their products for the detection of photosynthetic proteins, but as their portfolio has continued to expand, I now rely on Agrisera antibodies also to detect and quantify my proteins of interest, including those with nuclear localization—but also to confirm protein localization, provide reliable loading controls, and analyse protein dynamics under various experimental conditions. Agrisera’s antibody versatility and high quality have made them an indispensable resource in my research and for the broader plant science community.

- Any further comments?

I spent three wonderful years as a postdoctoral researcher at the UPSC in Umeå, located near Vännäs, where Agrisera is based. I have extremely fond memories of my time there and grew to love Västerbotten—it truly is a special place. During this period, I had the pleasure of getting to know Joanna and her team. I greatly appreciate their dedication as well as their constant and prompt support. Thank you very much!

Links

• Dr. Tatjana Kleine
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in environmental stress response
• Agrisera Antibodies reactive in Arabidopsis thaliana

How to interpret Western blot results, a new webinar with Agrisera, conducted with Agrisera distributor in Taiwan, Yao-Hong Biotechnology Inc.

Western blot, a complex technique in which Agrisera antibodies are widely applied, offers many challanges. Not only with its procedure itself, which consists of many steps with high complexitiy but also with the interpretation of obtained results.

Therefore, a new webinar has been prepared by Agrisera's Technical Support Manager, based on troubleshooting of hundreds of blots, over the last 25 years.

The webinar content included answers to the following questions:

-How to make sure that the correct antibody is used in a project?

-What are the major pitfalls with interpretation of obtained results and how to avoid them.

-What to do if the target protein band is found in both wildtype (WT) and knockout mutant (KO)?

-What are the antibody validation strategies?

Interested in this webinar/workshop for your organization? You are welcome to contact us.

How to interpret Western blot results, webinar with Agrisera

Interview with Assoc. Prof. Alizée Malnoë

Assoc. Prof. Alizée Malnoë

Dr. Alizée Malnoë is an Associate Professor in Plant Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. Her lab investigates how plants defend themselves against damage from too much sunlight, a process essential for their survival. After several years in Sweden at Umeå Plant Science Centre, Dr. Malnoë moved her group to Bloomington in 2024, continuing her research into photosynthesis and photoprotection.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am an Associate Professor in Plant Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. Our lab research how plants protect themselves from sunburn. We moved in April 2024 from Umeå Plant Science Centre in Sweden. There, it was an amazing perk to meet and connect with Joanna and other Agrisera team members in person several times throughout the year, and receive our reagent orders on the same day they were ordered!

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

I wanted to make biofuel from renewable resources, I started my research experience with the microalga Chlamydomonas (affectionately called Chlamy) and studying photosynthetic electron transport for hydrogen production. I realized that much basic science is needed to understand and optimize natural processes, and how thrilling the job of an academic scientist is in investigating how nature works. I've since studied photoprotection mechanisms in the plant model Arabidopsis, with Kris Niyogi at UC Berkeley during my postdoctoral training, and now with my own group. Algae, plants, are so important for our human lives: they give us food, fiber, feed, fuel and oxygen!

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Agrisera is THE provider of antibodies for photosynthetic research, I learned alongside Catherine de Vitry during my PhD at IBPC Paris how to analyze protein content in different mutant Chlamy strains. IBPC is one of the birthplaces of many chloroplast protein antibodies sold by Agrisera, it felt there was no limit to the questions we could answer, they had them all!

A notable moment during my postdoctoral training was when we had just found an unknown protein to be involved in photoprotection now named relaxation of qH1 (ROQH1). We were about to design an antibody but I searched the Agrisera website to see if they might already have an antibody against it (this was a long shot) but they did! These was thanks to Agrisera's work in collaboration with Sabeeha Merchant and Arthur Grossman's labs where they had generated antibodies of several "greencut" proteins, those that are conserved throughout the green lineage but not present or poorly conserved in non-photosynthetic organisms.

- Any further comments?

We're tremendously thankful for Agrisera's products and Joanna's help troubleshooting and answering our numerous immunoblots' related inquiries. Please check us out here: https://malnoelab.com/ and contact us with any questions! See also for a recent article about our team: https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/04/alizee-manoe-photosynthesis-iu-research

Links

• Assoc. Prof. Alizée Malnoë
• Malnoë Lab, Indiana University Bloomington
• Agrisera Antibodies to GreenCut proteins
• Agrisera Antibodies to Photosynthetic Research

Nobel prize winner, professor Emmanuelle Charpentier visits Umeå University

Last Friday, the Nobel Prize Winner in chemistry, professor Emmanuelle Charpentier was appointed a honorary citizen of Umeå in a ceremony organized by Umeå Municipality at Norrland’s Opera in Umeå. Later the same day professor Charpentier visited her former workplace, Umeå University, and attended a panel discussion before colleagues, students, and other interested parties. Her talk focused on the important role of research and researchers in the society and was a great inspiration for all who attended.

Professor Charpentier research during her stay in Umeå led to the discovery of CRISPR-cas9 gene editing tool, which application spans from agriculture to treatment of human diseases. We are proud that such a discovery has been made at Umeå University, which Agrisera is collaborating with over the last 40 years.

Emmanuelle Charpentier at Umeå University

Interview with Dr. Kirk J Czymmek

Dr. Kirk J Czymmek

Dr. Kirk J Czymmek serves as Principal Investigator and Director of the Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. His work focuses on the development and application of advanced microscopy techniques—including light, x-ray, and electron microscopy, as well as super-resolution and cryo-methodologies—to address fundamental questions in plant-microbe interactions. The aim is to use advanced imaging to help uncover how plants respond, guiding new strategies to protect yields and ensure food security.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am a microscopist and specialize in plant-microbe interactions as a Principal Investigator and Director of the Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. In my current role, I apply and develop advanced microscopy tools in plant science dedicated to producing more nutritious food and improving the environment. I received my doctorate in Botany and Plant Pathology at Michigan State University and did a post-doctoral position at the DuPont Company in CR&D Plant Molecular Genetics group before a career encompassing both academia and industry. My expertise in most forms of light, x-ray and electron microscopy, including super-resolution microscopy, cryo-techniques and correlative microscopy has enabled me to develop and apply cutting-edge microscopy tools for imaging cells, tissues and biomaterials.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

My family grew cash crops, including alfalfa, timothy, and high-quality hay for the racehorses. As the middle child of seven on the farm, I was a laborer. It was hot, hard work, but the free-range childhood inspired my early interest in science. I went to college with a focus on biology and the courses I enjoyed the most were my plant systematics class, microbiology, and electron microscopy. I’m a very visual person, and looking through the eyepieces of any microscope opened a whole new world to me with seemingly unlimited opportunities for discovery.

As the world’s warming continues, plants will be more stressed and vulnerable. Under higher humidity and warmer environmental conditions, fungi and other pathogens thrive, and diseases once limited to the tropics continue to spread. Disease resistance and crop protection strategies are important for plants so we can figure out how to grow more food in challenging conditions. We need more productivity to feed the world. Advanced imaging is a very important tool to help us solve these challenges.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Both over my career and in ongoing research, Agrisera is my first stop for a trusted source to find high quality antibodies (e.g. for cell walls, cytoskeleton, organelles, to name just a few) for molecular and imaging plant applications. What I especially like is their comprehensive documentation on what approaches, citations and/or protocol overviews a particular antibody has been demonstrated and suitable for. This ultimately saves a lot of time and money without having to guess if it works or not.

- Any further comments?

Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund is an OUTSTANDING resource if you are trying to get technical guidance and support, either before you start or already working with Agrisera antibodies. In addition, if you have used an antibody and it worked great, let her know and she can share exemplary data for others in the plant community.

Links

• Dr. Kirk J Czymmek
• Agrisera cell wall antibodies
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins building Cytoskeleton

Agrisera at 12th Conference of the Polish Society of Experimental Plant Biology

Agrisera is in Warszawa this week, at the 12th Conference of the Polish Society of Experimental Plant Biology🌿which takes place at the Faculty of Biology of Warsaw University.

Dr. Joanna Porankiewicz Asplund, Technical Support Manager at Agrisera is waiting for you to talk about your dream antibodies, antibody techniques, tips and tricks and much more.

Take the chance to win a free antibody with our fortune wheel or grab a hard copy of our educational poster focused on photosynthesis, epigenetics, protein extraction or Western blot.

Agrisera at PSEB conference

Interview with Prof. Alejandra A. Covarrubias

Prof. Alejandra A. Covarrubias

Dr. Alejandra A. Covarrubias is a professor in the Plant Molecular Biology Department at the Biotechnology Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Campus Morelos. She has dedicated her career to exploring the molecular mechanisms that underlie plant responses to environmental stress, with a strong focus on water scarcity. In this interview, Dr. Covarrubias reflects on her scientific journey and highlights the critical role of plant research in achieving sustainable agriculture.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am currently a full professor in the Plant Molecular Biology Department at the Biotechnology Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Campus Morelos. I completed all my higher education in UNAM, Mexico City Campus. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Chemistry, followed by MSc and PhD degrees in the Biomedical Sciences program.

My graduate research focused on applying recombinant DNA technology to study the genetic regulation of bacterial nitrogen metabolism. During my thesis work, I isolated and characterized the first gene for the glutamine synthetase, a central enzyme in nitrogen metabolism across all organisms, and other genes involved in its regulation. As part of my graduate training, I spent two years in Dr. Herbert Boyer’s lab at the University of California, at San Francisco. There, I learned the fundamentals of recombinant DNA and cloning from the leading scientist in the field. This experience had a profound impact on my career, giving me the opportunity to learn from outstanding mentors and gain exposure to diverse scientific and biotechnological approaches. I also witnessed the early, often controversial discussions surrounding the use of recombinant DNA.

After returning to Mexico, I completed my PhD and received my first job offer from the Biomedical Research Institute at UNAM, where I continued studying the genetic control of nitrogen metabolism. Two years later, I was invited to join to the newly created Nitrogen Fixation Research Center (CIFN)in Cuernavaca, Morelos - the first UNAM initiative to decentralise scientific research. At this point, the idea was to start a research group working on plant molecular biology, a field that taken root in Mexico. This marked a pivotal moment in my career, as it. represented both a significant challenge and an exciting opportunity to contribute to scientific development in my country. I was privileged to receive a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, which allowed me to train in plant biology. I was fortunate to be accepted into Dr. Virginia Walbot’s lab in the Biological Sciences Department at Stanford University, to whom I am very grateful. It was there that fell in love with plants and discovered a fascinating and entirely new world. Two years later, following changes in the development plan of the CIFN, the entire plant research group moved to the Genetic Engineering Research Center (now the Biotechnology Institute), where we established the new Plant Molecular Biology Department.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

There were several reasons that led me to pursue plant science. I recognized the urgent need for our country to establish research groups focused on various aspects of plant molecular biology aiming to build the knowledge base necessary to better understand the plant world and thereby contribute to more sustainable agriculture. On a more personal level, I was particularly intrigued by how plants respond to water scarcity. After speaking with various Mexican agronomist and crop improvement specialists, it became clear that this issue was both serious and urgent. During my long hours in the library, I realized that plants possess remarkably efficient mechanisms to sense, adjust and adapt to changing environmental conditions – a phenomenon that has continued to fascinate me ever since.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

My first contact with Agrisera arose from our need to get antibodies against specific plant proteins involved in the plant response to water deficit, which we were studying at that time. Although we were able to generate our own antibodies, issues at our Institute’s facility, created an urgent need for reliable alternatives. Agrisera came to the rescue. I reached out Joanna Porankiewicz, and we received a prompt, professional service along with high-quality antibodies. Since then, Agrisera has become our preferred source for antibodies.

- Any further comments?

Thank you Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund. I hope Agrisera continues to support our research through its expertise in antibody production and protein detection techniques.

Links

• Prof. Alejandra A. Covarrubias
• Prof. Alejandra A. Covarrubias' research group
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in environmental stress response

Agrisera's 40 years celebration

On 28th of August, Agrisera celebrated its 40th anniversary with a great party at Elite Hotel Mimer. Over 80 participants, coworkers and colleagues participated in this special event.

In a short interview, Agrisera founder, Greger Nordlund shared his insights into the company’s beginnings and its impressive journey of growth over the years. Co-workers who have been with Agrisera over 10 and 20 years participated in the interview too and shared precious moments from the company´s history.

The party was filled with music and celebration of this great achievement - highlighting the collaborative spirit and problem-solving mindset that have defined the Agrisera team for the past 40 years. With many plans for the future, and Agrisera recent acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific, it opens new avenues for the future. Here’s to the next chapter in Agrisera’s inspiring story!

Agrisera 40 years celebration

Meet with Agrisera at Chlamy 2025

Agrisera is in Münster, Germany this week for the 21st International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas 2025 (August 24–29)! 🌿

Product Specialist Isabel Salén is available at our table. You are welcome to stop by to have a chat, receive free copies of Agrisera’s educational material and to enter our contest for an opportunity to win an antibody.

Chloroplast

Two conferences supported by Agrisera this week

During this week, Agrisera supported two conferences:

• Plant Membrane Biology EMBO Workshop, between 18th-22nd of August, in Copenhagen in Denmark
• 11th International Symposium on Inorganic Carbon Utilization by Aquatic Photosynthetic Organisms, between 20th-22nd of August, at the University of York in the United Kingdom

Agrisera supported the conferences with Agrisera Best Poster Prizes and free copies of Agrisera Educational Posters.

The Best Poster Prize on EMBO workshop was awarded to phd canditate Jianping Wang from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, CAS in China. For the poster entilted: "Cryo-EM structures of Arabidopsis CNGC1 and CNGC5 reveal gating and calcium selectivity mechanisms".

Conferences supported by Agrisera in August 2025

Interview with Prof. Wolfgang Schröder

Prof. Wolfgang Schröder

Dr. Wolfgang Schröder is Professor Emeritus at Umeå Plant Science Center. His research group investigates the structure and function of the photosynthetic protein complex PSII. Using cryo-electron microscopy as structural imaging method the research team aims to investigate how PSII undergoes conformational changes to protect against damage from intense light, as well as how plants can selectively disconnect parts of the photosystem to minimize energy loss and mitigate light-induced stress.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I made my PhD in Lund University at the department of biochemistry with Hans-Erik Åkerlund. After that I made a PostDr stay at CNRS outside Paris and a second PostDr in Berlin in the group of Gernot Renger. After that I returned to Sweden and became Docent at Stockholm University in the department headed by Bertil Andersson. In 2002 I moved to Umeå where I became professor. Since 2024 I am emeritus professor at Umeå Plant Science Center.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

I was persuaded by Per-Åke Albertsson at biochemistry in Lund to make a bachelor exam work using two-phase extractions on plant material. After that I was hooked into plant biochemistry, as I realized the great advantage of plant-material which have few ethical or permission considerations.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Throughout my carrier I have used antibodies from Agrisera, they have been crucial for identifying both new and old proteins. My first antibody produced was against a previous unknown low molecular protein in Photosystem II. This serum was the strongest sera I ever have obtained and I was happy that the protein was named PsbW.

- Any further comments?

Helpful and friendly personnel always prepared to help with troubleshooting.

Links

• Prof. Wolfgang Schröder
• Agrisera Antibodies to Photosynthetic Research

Antibodies for research validation of genetically modified plants

Agrisera provides two antibodies to EPSP synthase | 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (chloroplastic), which is an enzyme inhibited by glyphosate.

Anti-EPSP synthase | 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (chloroplastic), AS16 3119

Anti-EPSP synthase | 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (chloroplastic, Arabidopsis thaliana), AS14 2782

These antibodies can be applied in:

Research validation of newly developed GM lines.
Protein characterization.
Comparative expression studies in different tissues or developmental stages.
Safety assessment in some early regulatory dossiers, Western blots have been used to show equivalence of expressed EPSPS protein in GM crops vs. recombinant production systems.

Chloroplast

Agrisera supported Canadian Society of Plant Biologists 2025 Annual Meeting

Agrisera supported Canadian Society of Plant Biologists 2025 Annual General Meeting (CSPB-SCBV 2025), held 9th-12th of August in Halifax, Canada

The three day long annual meeting brings together researchers from academic, government, and industry laboratories for communication and networking on all aspects of plant biology. The scientific program featured topics including plant resilience - interactions with individual, and combinations of abiotic and/or biotic stresses; coastal eco-physiology and the changing climate; and artificial intelligence in advancing plant biology and sustainable agriculture.

Agrisera Best Poster Award was awarded and participants could collect hard copies of Agrisera Educational Posters and Agrisera catalog.

Agrisera supports 2025 CSPB meeting

Interview with Dr. Pushan Bag

Dr. Pushan Bag

Dr. Pushan Bag received his PhD degree from Umea Plant Science Centre in Sweden, and is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford. He is a part of Prof. Paul Jarvis’s lab, in the field of chloroplast protein transport. His work aims to understand how proteins are imported into chloroplasts and how this process varies during different developmental stages, with the goal of improving crop performance.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

My name is Pushan Bag, and I’m a Human Frontiers Science Program research fellow at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford. I work in Prof. Paul Jarvis’s lab, in the field of chloroplast protein transport. My current research focuses on how proteins are imported into chloroplasts, particularly how this process changes during different developmental stages. I'm especially interested in the structural biology of these transport machineries. The long-term goal is to engineer the protein transport machinery to influence plant development, which could have significant implications for improving crop performance.

Since protein transport into chloroplasts is heavily light-dependent, it’s clear that this process is directly or indirectly regulated by photosynthesis. During my PhD, I worked extensively on photosynthesis, which gave me a strong foundation in chloroplast energy metabolism. Now, I aim to integrate that expertise with my current work to explore how chloroplast energy status and redox metabolism influence—and are influenced by—organelle biogenesis and development. Ultimately, I hope to build a unified understanding of how chloroplasts function and adapt under different environmental and developmental conditions.

This field is also incredibly fascinating from an evolutionary perspective. Chloroplast protein transport is believed to have evolved from ancient bacterial toxin ejection systems. As life on Earth progressed from unicellular to multicellular organisms and eventually to higher plants, these primitive systems were repurposed—from ejecting toxins to importing proteins. One hypothesis is that, following the endosymbiotic origin of chloroplasts from cyanobacteria, most of the endosymbiont’s genes were transferred to the host nucleus, which then forced the evolution of a protein import system from what was originally an ejection system. But we don’t yet know exactly how this transition occurred—or if it happened in that way at all.

To shed light on this question, I’m examining the structure of these protein transporters across organisms throughout the evolutionary tree. By doing so, I hope to understand how this transformation took place. This research could also provide insights into mitochondrial evolution, as both chloroplasts and mitochondria originated via endosymbiosis. Understanding one may help us better understand the other.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about plant science early in my academic journey. During my bachelor’s studies, I focused on microbiology, physics, and chemistry. I still remember the first time I saw the Z-scheme of photosynthesis in a textbook—I thought it looked too complicated and skipped that chapter altogether!

Later, I pursued a Master’s in Molecular Microbiology, which wasn’t plant-focused either, although it was offered by the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Hyderabad. My entry into plant biology was more of a happy accident. Due to lower first-semester grades, I had limited options for my master’s thesis lab and ended up in a plant biology lab that no one else from my program had chosen. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise: I had a great experience and even got a good paper out of it. That was the moment I got properly introduced to plant science—and since then, it's been green all the way!

After my Master’s, I joined Prof. Rajagopal’s lab, where I first started working with chloroplasts and photosynthesis. I began to wonder: when we treat plants in the lab and observe how they respond, how does that compare to how they naturally behave in the wild? That curiosity led me to do my PhD with Prof. Stefan Jansson in Umeå, working on conifers in natural and extreme conditions, which felt like a very natural progression. From there, moving into protein transport with Prof. Jarvis and thinking about how we can engineer plants for agriculture has been a very fulfilling path.

And looking back on it all, I’m reminded of that quote from Steve Jobs: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” At the time of choosing my Master’s lab, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing—just taking the only open opportunity. And now here I am, giving an interview to Agrisera about plant protein antibodies. That’s the beauty of the journey.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

The first time I used Agrisera antibodies was in Prof. Rajagopal’s lab—probably for a western blot of Photosystem II subunit A (PsbA). Before that, I hadn’t even heard of Agrisera. But once you get into photosynthesis research, you quickly realize how essential Agrisera is, especially given their extensive collection of antibodies targeting photosynthetic proteins.

During my PhD in Umeå, I got to work closely with Agrisera for multiple reasons. First, they were part of my Marie Skłodowska-Curie Horizon 2020 EU project. Second, in Prof. Jansson’s lab, many light-harvesting complex antibodies were co-developed with Agrisera. I also had a particularly rewarding experience working with spruce and pine, which required antibody optimization. Agrisera was extremely helpful and responsive throughout that process. We even developed spruce-specific Lhcb1 antibodies in collaboration with them, and the whole process was smooth and enriching.

Now that I’m in the UK, I’m still planning to design more antibodies with Agrisera. Beyond their research tools, I also want to highlight the educational posters and illustrations they create. Those were incredibly helpful during my PhD and even contributed to how I structured my thesis. It really shows how a company can go beyond commercial products to play an educational and academic role in the scientific community.

- Any further comments?

I truly value the role of well-characterized molecular tools in advancing plant science, and Agrisera has been a key part of that journey for me. As the field moves toward more integrative and synthetic approaches—combining insights from photosynthesis, organelle biology, and systems biology—having reliable, specific, and customizable reagents is more critical than ever. I’m particularly excited about the potential to unravel how chloroplast energy status regulates development and function, and how that understanding can be applied to improve crop productivity in a changing world.

Links

• Dr. Pushan Bag
• Agrisera Photosynthesis Antibodies

Light-induced structural changes in thylakoid membranes, revisited in the recent publication

In the recently published article, Wójtowicz et al. (2025). Shrink or expand? Just relax! Bidirectional grana structural dynamics as early light-induced regulator of photosynthesis, an international group of researchers challenged the traditional binary model of light-induced thylakoid dynamics. They discovered and described three-phase response, using high-resolution structural approaches like: transmission electron microscopy, confocal microscopy with 3D modeling, and small-angle neutron scattering as well as spectroscopic and electrophoretic analyses of the photosynthetic apparatus in two model species: Arabidopsis thaliana and Ficus elastica.

Selected antibodies to proteins of Photosystem I (PSI) and Photosystem II (PSII) antennae (Lhca1, Lhcb2, Lhcb4, and Lhcb5) and core proteins (D1 and PsaB), phosphorylated variants of D1 and Lhcb2 proteins and Atpb subunit of ATP synthase were used in this study.

Agrisera antibodies used in this work were:
Lhcb1-P, Lhcb2, Lhcb2-P, Lhcb4, Lhcb5, Lhca1, PsbA, PsbA-P, AtpBeta, PsaB, acetylated lysine

Shrink or expand article

Agrisera supported 20th Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

Agrisera supported 20th Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, which took place between 13th-17th of July in Cologne, Germany.

Over the course of 5 days, the congress was attended by over 1200 attendees for cutting-edge research and networking in the field of plant-microbe interactions.

Two Agrisera Best Poster Awards were awarded and participants could collect hard copies of Agrisera Educational Posters and Agrisera catalog.

Plant Microbe Interaction Congress 2025

Interview with Prof. Ru Zhang

Prof. Ru Zhang

Dr. Rue Zhang is a Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. She leads a lab focused on understanding how photosynthetic cells respond to heat stress to improve crop resilience in a warming climate. Using model plants and algae, her lab focuses on photosynthesis—one of the most heat-sensitive yet vital processes in plants.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am an Associate Member and Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. My lab studies how photosynthetic cells respond to abiotic stresses, especially high temperatures, by using both green algae (mainly Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and land plants (mainly Setaria viridis) as models. Global warming increases the frequency, intensity, and duration of high temperatures, which impair plant growth and reduce crop yield. To engineer crops with improved thermotolerance, it is imperative to understand how photosynthetic cells sense and respond to high temperatures. Many pathways in plants can be affected by high temperatures, and we focus on photosynthesis, a key driver for plant growth and food production but one of the most heat-sensitive functions in plants.

During my PhD training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I worked with Dr. Thomas Sharkey studying the effects of high temperature on photosynthesis in leaves of Arabidopsis and tobacco plants. During my postdoctoral training with Dr. Martin Jonikas and Dr. Arthur Grossman at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, I continued to investigate photosynthesis by developing high-throughput genotyping and quantitative phenotyping tools in the eukaryotic, unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to identify photosynthesis-deficient algal mutants on a genome-wide scale. In October 2016, I started my own lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a nonprofit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research, education and outreach aim to have an impact at the nexus of food security and the environment, and position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center’s work is funded through competitive grants from many sources, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, the Gates Foundation and through the support of individuals and corporations. Learn more at danforthcenter.org.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

I feel very happy when I am around plants, starting at a young age. As an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Ningning Wang’s lab at Nankai University in China, I participated in the generation of transgenic micro tomatoes with improved nitrogen uptake efficiency. I loved the smell of tomatoes and all of the green colors in our plant growth room. To me, taking care of my plants was like taking care of my babies. I called the plants I grew my “tomato babies”. It was fascinating to see my transgenic micro tomato plants having improved resistance to low nitrogen. Pursuing plant science quickly became a clear path for me.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

We use Agrisera antibodies frequently, mostly proteins involved in photosynthesis or chloroplast biology.

- Any further comments?

Agrisera is not only a great company that produces high quality antibodies but also closely integrates into the plant science communities. My office has several photosynthesis-related graphs supported by Agrisera. Dr. Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund is outstanding and patient in answering many questions from us about western troubleshooting and Agrisera antibodies. Joanna also led a great online workshop about western at our institution. Thanks a lot, Joanna! Agrisera, Happy 40th Anniversary!

Links

• Prof. Ru Zhang
• Zhang lab at Danforth
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in environmental stress response
• Agrisera Photosynthesis Antibodies

What links Agrisera antibodies to photosynthetic proteins and restoring anabolism of myocardial injury

A very interesting publication by Li et al. A Photophosphorylation Nanobot for Restoring Anabolism of Myocardial Injury, was published in The Journal of the American Chemical Society, in June 2025 issue. Considering high risk of mortality worldwide and due to limited capacity for self-repair after myocardial injury, self propelled nanobots which can target the heart and improve intracellular ATP concentration which leads to restoration of cellular metabolism and repair of myocardial injury, are a promise for the future treatment.

The following Agrisera antibodies to photosynthetic proteins were used to verify this approach:

Nanobots repairing heart and Agrisera antibodies

Agrisera supported Spanish Society of Plant Biology meeting and Plant Nitric Oxide (PNO) conferences

This week, Agrisera supported the following conferences:

Iberian Plant Biology 2025, held between 1st-4th of July, in Murcia, Spain. This meeting is organized on behalf of the Spanish and Portuguese Plant Biology Societies was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Society of Plant Biology and XIX Spanish-Portuguese congress on plant Biology. The motto of the meeting will be "Plants for a sustainable world".

Plant Nitric Oxide International Meeting (PNO), held between 9th-11th of July, online. The advances in the biology and chemistry of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) were the focus of this meeting. The following topics were covered: Nitric oxide (NO) and its interaction with other reactive species, the physiological and molecular roles of RNS in plants and the crosstalk between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and RNS.

Meet with Agrisera at Plant Biology 2025 in Milwaukee

Between July 26th - 30th, Agrisera is going to be present at the Plant Biology 2025, Milwaukee, USA. The conference is organized each year by American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).

Sales Manager Fanny Sundelin and Product Specialist Isabel Salén are representing Agrisera at the meeting. You are welcome to come by Agrisera booth and talk antibodies with them or just to say hello.

Participants can pick up free hard copies of Agrisera's Educational Posters, prepared in collaboration with scientists in the field of photosynthesis and epigenetics, as well as the Agrisera product catalog and Agrisera Western blot troubleshooting guide.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Interview with Prof. Viktor Žárský

Prof. Viktor Žárský

Dr. Viktor Žárský founded the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the Institute of Experimental Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences. He also serves as a professor at the Department of Experimental Plant Biology, Charles University in Prague. His research primarily explores plant cell polarity and morphogenesis, focusing on the role of small GTPases and their effectors within the endomembrane system.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I established the Laboratory of cell biology at the Institute of experimental botany, Czech academy of sciences and am at the same time professor at the Department of experimental plant Biology, Charles University in Prague. My research focuses on the biology of plant cell polarity and morphogenesis/development regulated by small GTPases and their effectors in the endomembrane system, especially vesicle tethering complex exocyst and early land plants evolution.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

As a child I was fascinated by microscopy and as a high school student I got interested in algae - so that algology was my entry point into plant cell and developmental biology.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

In our research we do not only use Agrisera antibodies, but in collaboration with Agrisera we successfully developed two antibodies against core exocyst complex subunits. From our efforts to develop antibodies we can say that the collaboration with Agrisera was very useful.

Links

• Prof. Viktor Žárský
• Prof. Viktor Žárský's lab
• Agrisera antibodies - Plant developmental biology
• Agrisera antibodies - Membrane Transport System

Agrisera Western have conducted blot workshops with Beijing XMJ Scientific, for researchers in China

In June, Agrisera have conducted workshops in collaboration with Beijing XMJ Scientific, for researchers in China.
Thanks to everyone who participated!

Agrisera Western blot workshop with XMJ

Educational poster 9 focused on Western blot technique is available

Agrisera's Educational Poster number 9 is the second poster in our collection that focuses on methods, and in this case: Western blotting. The content was developed based on Agrisera's 25 years of troubleshooting hundreds of blots each year. The contents were transferred into the graphical representation by Dr. Dmitry Shevela (SciGrafik, Sweden).

You are welcome to download the pdf or request a hard copy of this very informative poster! The poster also contains a link and QR code to a landing page with information regarding details of the Western blot technique.

If you have any comments or suggestions, we are always eager to hear them. You are welcome to contact us!

Agrisera is a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific

In July 2024, Agrisera and Olink entered an exciting new chapter by becoming part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific family. As we continue to integrate into this global organization, we will be updating our logo to reflect this new affiliation.

Our dedication to serving the scientific community remains unchanged. I will continue in my role as CEO, and our experienced and passionate team will remain fully committed to supporting you.

Our online store continues to operate as usual, with a strong and ongoing focus on advancing plant science research. We are also actively working to expand our product portfolio with innovative, high-quality antibodies—honoring Agrisera’s longstanding legacy.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to maintaining the rigorous quality standards you have come to expect from us. You can continue to rely on the trusted products and services that have defined Agrisera over the years.

Joining Thermo Fisher Scientific presents a valuable opportunity for growth and innovation. We believe this transition will bring meaningful benefits to our customers, partners, and the broader scientific community.

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss what this change may mean for you, please feel free to contact me directly. We sincerely appreciate your continued trust and look forward to building the future together.

Best regards,

Erika Gelfgren, CEO, Agrisera AB

[email protected]

Interview with Prof. Andreas Hiltbrunner

Prof. Andreas Hiltbrunner

Dr. Andreas Hiltbrunner is a professor for Molecular Plant Physiology at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He earned his PhD at ETH Zürich and then moved to University of Freiburg for postdoctoral research on light signalling and phytochromes. Dr. Hiltbrunner has dedicated his career to investigating the complexities of how plants perceive and respond to light. What motivates him is the importance of understanding plant responses to the environment, to ensure sustainable agricultural production in the future.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

During my PhD at ETH Zurich, I investigated the molecular mechanisms of protein import into chloroplasts. For my postdoc, I then moved to the University of Freiburg, Germany, where I became interested in how plants sense the light environment and how phytochromes, an important class of photoreceptors in plants, are involved in this process. When I started my own lab as an independent group leader at the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP), University of Tübingen, Germany, I continued working on light signalling and phytochromes, and also began investigating how phytochromes and light signalling evolved in land plants. Since 2012, I have been Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where I have continued to focus on understanding how phytochromes function at the molecular level, how downstream signalling pathways link light activation of phytochromes to changes in gene expression, and how the evolution of light signalling enabled plants to colonise land.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

I have always been fascinated by plants, and from the beginning of my studies, it was clear to me that I wanted to work with plants. Plants feed the world, and it is therefore essential that we understand how they respond to changes in the environment, including those driven by climate change, if we are to ensure sustainable agricultural production in the future. However, the projects in our lab fall within the field of basic research, and I feel very privileged to have the freedom to investigate questions that are driven by curiosity and may not have an immediate application. Yet, applied research relies on discoveries made in basic science, and I am confident that understanding the fundamental principles of phytochrome action in model plants such as the seed plant Arabidopsis thaliana or the moss Physcomitrium patens will eventually contribute to practical applications.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Antibodies to detect phytochromes (phy) and proteins involved in phytochrome downstream signalling are essential tools in our research (e.g. for immunoblotting or Co-IP). When our stocks of custom-made antibodies against phyA and phyB, the two primary phytochromes in seed plants, were used up, we needed to find a replacement. Fortunately, antibodies specific to phyA and phyB provided by Agrisera reliably detected the respective phytochromes. This resolved our issue, and we are grateful for this valuable resource. In addition, we are using several Agrisera antibodies against factors in involved in light signalling for immunoblotting.

- Any further comments?

We have tested several antibodies provided by Agrisera, and I really appreciate that – unlike many other companies – Agrisera actively invests in plant research. After several years of email communication, I finally met Joanna in person at a conference last year, which I greatly enjoyed. We were also glad to have Agrisera’s support for a conference at our institute this year, including the generous donation of a free antibody as a poster prize. Tack så mycket!

Links

• Prof. Andreas Hiltbrunner
• Prof. Andreas Hiltbrunner's research group
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in light acclimation

Agrisera supports Plant Biology Europe 2025 and 2nd Polish RNA binding meeting

Agrisera supports the Plant Biology Europe conference, held between the 25th and 28th of June, in Budapest, Hungary. The event will be attended by over 400 participants from different countries in Europe.

Particular focus of the conference will be given to the climate change and the ways plant science can address it.

Each attendee will receive a hard copy of one of Agrisera's Educational Posters included into the attendee bag.

We are looking forward to the next Plant Biology Europe meeting in 2027!

During the same week, Agrisera supported 2nd Polish RNA biology meeting held between 24th-27th of June, at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland with educational posters focused on plant small RNAs and Agrisera Best Poster Prize.

Agrisera - Winner of PSL Alliance Accolade

We are incredibly proud to share that Agrisera has been recognized by Pivotal Scientific by being awarded the PSL Alliance Accolade for our continued dedication and engagement within the plant science community!

This accolade highlights not only our commitment to advancing scientific research but also our strong collaboration with partners who share our vision. Pivotal Scientific has been instrumental in supporting our growth, and we’re honored to be acknowledged for using their services in a meaningful and impactful way.

A huge thank you to our amazing team for their hard work and passion, and to Pivotal Scientific for this recognition. We look forward to continuing our journey together—driving innovation, supporting the global research community, and making a difference in life science.

Agrisera at International Conference of Arabidopsis Research (ICAR2025)

Agrisera attended the 35th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research, in Ghent, Belgium held between the 16th and 20th of Jun. Agrisera was represented by Product Specialist Isabel Salén.

Thank you to everyone who visited Agrisera's booth or is still planning to come, to discuss antibodies and plant science, and to the conference organizers for yet another successful meeting.

Agrisera's Educational Posters were available free of charge at the conference. In case you did not get a chance to obtain copies, you can request them, free of charge, here.

Agrisera attending ICAR 2025

15th Workhop on cyanobacteria and 8th PostDoc Day were supported by Agrisera

In the beginning of June Agrisera supported the 8th Post-Doc Day on 5th of June, at the University of Geneve, Switzerland and the 15th Workshop on cyanobacteria, taking place between 4th-7th of June in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Every year the PostDoc Day brings together postdoc community and is packed with engaging sessions in different fields.

The workshop on cyanobacteria is conducted every 3 years in North America and brings together researchers specializing in cyanobacteria and other photosynthetic procaryotes. Agrisera supported both meetings with Agrisera Prizes.

Agrisera educational posters focused on photosynthesis, epigenetics, protein extraction and Western blot were offered for participants, as well as Western blot guide and Agrisera catalog.

Conferences supported by Agrisera in June 2025

Interview with Prof. Emilio Gutiérrez

Prof. Emilio Gutiérrez

Dr. Emilio Gutiérrez is a professor and group leader at the Plant Biology and Biochemistry institute, a Joint Centre of the University of Seville (USE) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). His research group explores the key role of stress granules (SGs) in plant stress response. Their goal is to understand the molecular pathways underlying formation of SGs and how the formation promotes stress resistance and cell survival in plants.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am a group leader at the Plant Biology and Biochemistry institute, a Joint Centre of the University of Seville (USE) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The IBVF is specialized in the study of phototrophic biology in a broad sense, with the distinctive feature of developing research with all types of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms: cyanobacteria, algae and plants. The research of my group is focused on the understanding the key role stress granules (SGs) in plant stress response. SGs are phase-separated bimolecular condensates formed by proteins and mRNAs assembled in response to stress. The formation of SGs minimizes stress-related damage and promotes cell survival, although the molecular mechanisms underlying pro-survival effects of SGs remain to be established. In contrast to the prominence of research on stress granule in animal and yeast models, in plants, SGs have only received limited attention. Our goal is to establish a profound conceptual and experimental framework allowing us to understand the molecular pathways underlying formation of SGs in plants, which will be used as a basis to finally demonstrate how the formation of these condensates promotes stress resistance and cell survival in plants.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by the plant world. I am curious to learn how a sessile organism can perceive, respond to, and defend itself against external stimuli, adapting to an increasingly hostile environment. This curiosity drives me to explore the intricate mechanisms that allow plants to survive and thrive despite the challenges they face. Understanding their resilience not only deepens my admiration for them but also fuels my passion for research.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Agrisera is making a significant contribution for the plant science community by developing a wide range of antibodies targeting plant proteins. Protein detection by antibodies is a crucial tool for advancing scientific research. Before Agrisera, there was no company dedicated exclusively to the development of antibodies against plant proteins, filling a vital gap in the field.

Links

• Prof. Emilio Gutiérrez
• Prof. Emilio Gutiérrez’s research group
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in plant stress response

Agrisera supports 25th Conference of the Austrian Society of Plant Biology

Agrisera supported the 25th conference of the Austrian Society of Plant Biology, which took place between the 29th and 31st of May, in Tulin, organized by the Institute of Botany of BOKU University.

Conference topics included covered many aspects of the biology of plant cell.

Agrisera educational posters focused on photosynthesis, epigenetics, protein extraction and Western blot were offered for participants, as well as Western blot guide and Agrisera catalogue.

Agrisera supports the 25th conference of Austrian Society of Plant Biology

Interview with Prof. Govindjee

Prof. Govindjee

Dr. Govindjee is professor emeritus of plant biology, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, with a focus on the mechanism of oxygenic photosynthesis, especially Photosystem II, the one that gives us oxygen. During the 1960s, he led the team that focused on the use of changes in light absorption and light- emission from chlorophyll a in deciphering the photochemistry and biochemistry of oxygenic photosynthesis, in particular the unique role of bicarbonate in Photosystem II. His achievements led to the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society of Photosynthesis Research (ISPR), and his work has led to many other international awards and honors. Agrisera has enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with Prof. Govindjee through the development of educational posters on the mechanism of photosynthesis and its use in improving plant productivity.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I started my research life in 1954 at the University of Allahabad, India, working on the effects of virus infection on the amino acid metabolism of many plants including tobacco. However, after receiving my PhD (in Biophysics) in 1960, from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (UIUC), I have focused on Oxygenic Photosynthesis, especially the molecular mechanism of the electron flow from water to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+), working as an Assistant Professor (1961-1965), an Associate Professor (1965- 1969), a Professor (1969-1999), and then as Professor Emeritus of Plant Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, starting in 1999, also at the UIUC. My interaction with Agrisera began (and continues) through discussions on the many wonderful educational posters (https://www.agrisera.com/en/educational-posters).

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

My interest in plants began when I was in the 4th class – through my teacher in what was called ‘Nature study’. Further, during my college days, I detested the idea of ‘dissecting’ animals, but I loved examining plants and their leaves and examining them under microscopes. When I came to the UIUC in 1956, as a graduate student, I began culturing the green alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa, the red alga Porphyridium cruentum, and the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans.

Further, I was fascinated with the controversy of the minimum quantum requirement of 3-4 photons (by the Noble laureate Otto Warburg) per oxygen versus 8-12 by the others including my first mentor on ‘Photosynthesis’ Robert Emerson. And, yes, the topic of ‘Primary Photochemistry and Biophysics’ -- from femto-seconds to kilo-seconds- became my life-work – after I interacted with my second – but most influential mentor Eugene Rabinowitch. And hence the commitment to oxygenic photosynthesis at all levels.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Personally, I have not used Agrisera antibodies in my research, but I have been deeply involved in providing detailed information to Agrisera for making educational posters on Oxygenic Photosynthesis (2016), Vertical Z-Scheme (2018), Photosynthesis and Respiration (2019) and Rubisco (2020); these may be accessed at https://www.agrisera.com/en/info/educational-posters.html.

- Any further comments?

I have always enjoyed a wonderful, friendly relationship with Joanna and her team – in person as well as through e-mails and phone conversations. I wish Agrisera the best in all their future endeavors.

Links

• Honoring Govindjee, celebrating 90 years
• Prof. Govindjee - Wikipedia
• Agrisera's Educational Posters
• Agrisera Antibodies - Photosynthesis

What after-sales service is offered by Agrisera?

Q: I purchased an antibody from Agrisera and need some technichal guidance. What should I do?

A: Contact Agrisera Technical Support for help. We will promptly reply to your questions. To be able provide you with the best help, we will need the following information:

- Image of the obtained results (whole membrane with MW markers for Western blot, section image for immunolocalization)

- Exact details of the applied protocol

Once we receive the results with all experimental details included, we will provide suggestions on how to solve the issue and/or optimize the protocol.

Each case is solved individually, as there can be various reasons as to why a desired result cannot be obtained.

You will receive prompt and professional support.
Contact us for help!

Most common reasons why the desired result can not be obtained with a given antibody:

Wrong antibody was purchased. Sequence used to elicit an antibody, is not found in the protein which is to be visualized.

The sample contains too little of the target protein. For proteins of low abundance, the specific cellular fraction needs to be analyzed.

The sample was not harvested in conditions, in which the target protein is most abundant in the tissue, or the extraction buffer was not optimal (for example: no specific protease or proteasome inhibitors were included).

Antibody was incubated for too short time. Always check the product information sheet for guidance, or contact the supplier.

Give your blots a chance to improve - educational poster by Agrisera

How to choose the right antibody?
What is a Western blot workflow and what to do to succeed with this complex technique?

The answers to these questions, and many more, can be found on the latest educational poster prepared by Agrisera. The poster is aimed to be a community resource for beginners and experienced users of the Western blot technique.

It is based on hundreds of blots which have been troubleshooted each year for the last 25 years, by Agrisera technical support, as well as a valuable input from the plant community worldwide, which was involved in production of this educational resource. Thank you!

The poster is summarizing, in a graphical form, information from Agrisera Western blot resources and Agrisera webinars focused on antibodies and Western blot technique.

We welcome your comments, ideas for next poster and feedback. Mail them to: [email protected]

Educational poster about Western blot technique

The poster can be downloaded here , or a hard copy can be requested on Agrisera website.

View other educational posters focused on photosynthesis and epigenetics, here.

Graphical work has been done by Dr. Dmitri Shevela, from SciGrafik in Umeå, Sweden.

Agrisera – Antibody Supplier Succeeding in Plant Science

We are thrilled to announce that Agrisera has been honored with the 2025 CiteAb Award Antibody Supplier Succeeding in Plant Science!

Thanks to target suggestions from the plant community, as well as their contribution in our antibody validation process, on endogenous samples from a range of model species, Agrisera antibodies have been cited in over 10,000 publications. Agrisera's publication record has granted us the 2025 award Antibody Supplier Succeeding in Plant Science.

Each year, CiteAb select winners in various categories, based on publication analyses, as well as nominations by the research community. The last time a plant science category appeared in the CiteAb awards, Agrisera was awarded the 2019 CiteAb award Plant Science Antibody Supplier of the Year, for having the most antibody citations in research related to plant science. On average, Agrisera antibodies are cited in over 800 scientific articles per year.

"Plant Science is a really important field that powers developments in sustainability, global health, food security and more. Agrisera have a particular focus on plant and algal research, and have shown their successful support of researchers in this field by providing products that facilitate published discoveries," says Rhys Williams, Head of Antibody data at CiteAb.

New Agrisera antibodies to tags

Agrisera has released three new antibodies to tags:
Trx Tag | Sumo tag | RFP

Thioredoxin 1 Fusion protein (Trx Tag)
Trx tag is so-called Solubility/Expression Enhancer Tag (SEET) which improves the solubility, stability, or expression of the target protein in systems where proteins may otherwise aggregate or be poorly expressed.

Product number: AS21 4508

Tested applications: Western blot

Product page: Trx Tag | Thioredoxin

Sumo tag
SUMO is short for Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier, SUMO tag can be added in the N-terminal of a target protein, to increase its expression and solubility.

Product number: AS23 4970

Tested applications: Western blot

Product page: Anti-SUMO tag antibodies

Red flourescent protein (RFP)
RFP once excited is fluorescing red-orange light. The mass of RFP is approximately 25.9 kDa and its excitation maximum is 558 nm and emission maximum is 583 nm.

Product number: AS24 5006

Tested applications: Immunohistochemistry (IHC)

Product page: Anti-RFP | Red flourescent protein (mRFP, mCherry, tdTomato, mScarlet) antibodies

Read more about the new antibodies on each product page.

Need help to choose a suitable tag antibody? Check out our Tag Antibody Guide!

Interview with Prof. Blake Meyers

Prof. Blake Meyers

Dr. Blake Meyers serves as the Director of the UC Davis Genome Center and holds the titles of Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, and Novozymes Chair of Genomics. Before joining UC Davis, he was a faculty member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the University of Missouri – Columbia, and the University of Delaware. He is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Plant Biologists. Since 2008, he has been an editor of The Plant Cell, serving as Editor-in-Chief between 2020 and 2024.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am Blake Meyers, a plant biologist specializing in small RNAs and their roles in gene regulation, particularly in reproductive development and anther development. My research focuses on small RNA biology, recently including the biogenesis and functions of phased, secondary siRNAs (phasiRNAs). I am at the University of California, Davis, where I am the Director of the Genome Center, a multidisciplinary institute of 18 faculty members that share a common interest in genomic technologies and the application of these methods to diverse biological questions, including biomedicine, microbiology, bioinformatics, and plants. I am a faculty member in the Department of Plant Sciences. In my group, I have a talented team of researchers who are working to explore the molecular mechanisms, evolution, and diversity of plant RNAs, particularly small RNAs — and to identify applications of these discoveries to real world problems in crop plants.

- What motivated you to get into plant science?

My interest in plant science started through a love of plants, but grew further out of a fascination for genetics and molecular biology. I was especially drawn to the complexity and elegance of plant regulatory networks and the ways these are encoded in the genome. Plants offer unique insights into gene silencing, epigenetics, and small RNA biology — areas that remain at the forefront of my research today. The potential for discovery in plant science is immense, and its impact from agriculture to biotechnology, makes it an incredibly rewarding field.

- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Agrisera antibodies have been instrumental in our studies on ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins, which are key components of small RNA pathways. These proteins are the effectors of guide RNAs, much like the Cas proteins of the better known CRISPR system. The AGO antibodies allowed us to track the expression, localization, and interactions of AGO proteins in different plant tissues, helping to uncover their diverse functions in small RNA-guided gene regulation. Beyond AGO research, Agrisera’s commitment to high-quality plant antibodies has been a valuable resource for the plant biology community.

- Any further comments?

I appreciate Agrisera’s dedication to supporting plant research over the past 40 years. Their plant-specific antibodies and educational resources, such as the two posters that we collaborated on, have helped advance research and training for scientists worldwide. It’s exciting to see how these tools continue to contribute to new discoveries in plant molecular biology!

Links

• Meyers lab, UC Davis
• Agrisera antibodies to DNA/RNA/Cell Cycle
• Agrisera's Educational Posters

Antibody validation strategies, interview with experts

With millions of catalog antibodies available, the antibody product datasheets should be carefully analyzed, in terms of specific validation data, before choosing an antibody for your experimental setup.

Poor antibody validation contributes substantially to the ongoing reproducibility crisis. There is a lack of universal guidelines in antibody validation, as well as in how antibodies should be cited in scientific publications.

In a recent Editorial Article published by Biocompare, tilted: "Advanced Antibody Validation Strategies to Ensure Scientific Reproducibility" many important aspects of the antibody validation process were covered, and discussed by experts in the field. The interviewees were:

Dr. Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund, Customer Support Manager at Agrisera Antibodies
Shamim Mohammad, Ph.D., Lead Scientist at ATCC
Tracey Long Ph.D., Senior Marketing Manager, Catalog Antibodies, Life Science Group at Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc
Julia Gilden, Ph.D., Sr. Research Scientist Promega

Article excerpt to pay specific attention to:

Another common validation strategy involves Western blot detection of the recombinant protein. However, Porankiewicz Asplund cautions that this can be misleading if the antibody datasheet is not read carefully. "Based on this type of data, researchers might expect to see a very intense band on a Western blot, not realizing that it is impossible to achieve this in an endogenous extract, for a target of low abundance," she says. Protein abundance can be easily checked in PaxDb.

Read full article!

What information to look for before purchasing an antibody?

Agrisera Western blot workshop part II with Yao-Hong Biotechnology for researchers in Taiwan

Agrisera Western blot workshop with Yao-Hong Biotechnology

Agrisera antibody applied in expansion microscopy on Arabidopsis primary root

While the technique of expansion microscopy (ExM) is commonly used in animal cells and tissues, plant-specific protocols are very few. However, the interest in this technique is growing, and Agrisera antibodies were recently applied in ExM on Arabidopsis thaliana primary roots.

Using this method, called ROOT-ExM, the authors successfully imaged various organelles and subcellular compartments, including Golgi apparatus, the endoplasmic reticulum, the cytoskeleton and plasmodesmata.

ExM opens new avenues for discoveries in studies of plant cells on the molecular level, as it circumvents the resolution limitations of traditional microscopy methods, and allows the revealing of finer details of cellular structures.

Read the recently published article "Root expansion microscopy: A robust method for super resolution imaging in Arabidopsis".

Cited Agrisera antibody:

• SUN1,2 | SUN domain-containing protein 1,2

Agrisera polyclonal antibody to SUN1,2 | SUN domain-containing protein 1,2 (AS18 4224) was applied to visualize SUN1,2 protein using expansion microscopy (ExM) in Ar. thaliana roots. Details of the method are described here.

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