What are the most common misconceptionsa about primary antibodies?

• I have purchased several antibodies from the same company, and they all work on my species. Therefore, the next antibody should work too. False! Here we explain why.
  
• One and the same protocol can be applied to all antibodies. False! Here we explain why.
• The antibody is working in Western blot, therefore it is going to work in any other techniques. False! Here we explain why. 
• Confirmation of antibody reactivity to recombinant protein, is a good validation method, which confirms, that antibody is going to work on endogenous protein. False! Here we explain why.
• If I know exact immunogen sequence, I will be able to identify cross-reacting bands which I observe on the blot. False! Here we explain why.
• Monoclonal antibodies are superior to polyclonals. False! Here we explain why.
• Anti-actin and anti-tubulin are perfect loading controls for all experiments. False! Here we explain why.
• Blocking conditions are universal and are nothing to pay attention to. False! Here we explain why. 
• The longer primary and secondary antibodies are incubated, the better result it is going to be. False! Here we explain why. 
• Most sensitive detection reagents are always an optimal solution. False! Here we explain why. 
• Antibodies are expensive reagents, therefore I am always re-using them. False! Here we explain why. 

Antibodies do not simply detect proteins, rather specific epitopes under specific biochemical conditions.
Here we explain, why comparing antibodies to each other is not an appropriate approach.