Service Description

The CRO was contracted to radiolabel ligands (3) for a cytokine receptor and then asked to do binding studies on 3-4 cell lines to determine Kd and then number of binding sites on each cell type.

What Went Well

The CRO was very receptive to meetings and suggestions to get the assays up and running. They were pleasant and seemed very receptive to ideas and implementation. They explained there methods and capabilites with great detail and were very competitive with prices.

What Could Be Improved

Their ability to troubleshoot was very limited. It appears that their experience with binding assays may have been exaggerated. The data was not very compelling and I felt we had to guide them to troubleshoot and tell them what to do next instead of paying for their expertise.

Lessons Learned from the Experience

The CRO was NOT very innovative and did not appear to be leaders in the field of assay development and binding assays. I think the capabilities were exaggerated by the sales representatives and the laboratory personnel seemed overwhelmed with the work.