The Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (or DSHB) is a National Resource established by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , created by Congress in 1962, supports and conducts research on topics related to the health of children, adults, families, and populations...

 to bank and distribute at cost hybridoma

Hybridoma

Hybridoma technology is a technology of forming hybrid cell lines by fusing a specific antibody-producing B cell with a myeloma cell that is selected for its ability to grow in tissue culture and for an absence of antibody chain synthesis...

s and cell products to the general scientific community. The DSHB has been self-funded since 1996.

The mission of the DSHB is four-fold:

• Keep product prices low to facilitate research
• Serve as a repository to relieve scientist of the time and expense of distributing hybridomas and the monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) they produce
• Assure the scientific community that MAbs with limited demand remain available
• Maintain the highest product quality and provide prompt customer service and technical assistance

The DSHB is directed by David R. Soll

David R. Soll

David R. Soll is a Professor of Biology at the University of Iowa. He is best known for the motion analysis of living cells, the discovery of Candida albicans phenotypic switching and monoclonal antibody technology...

 at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. There are currently 1500 hybridomas in the DSHB collection. They have obtained hybridoma collections from a variety of individuals and institutions including the Muscular Dystrophy Association

Muscular Dystrophy Association

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...

 and the National Cancer Institute

National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...

, and they eagerly await new collections. The DSHB has begun developing complex monoclonal antibody microarrays for specific targets. Recently the bank tagged several of their most popular monoclonals with fluorescent proteins for distribution.
Hybridomas and cell products are available for a fee. First time customers must agree to the DSHB terms of usage that products will be used for research purposes only, and that they cannot be commercialized or distributed to a third party. Researchers also agree to acknowledge both the DSHB and the contributing investigator in publications that benefit from the use of DSHB products and provide the DSHB copies or citations of all publications.
Popular targets that the DSHB provides products for include:

• Drosophila antigens
• Cell markers
• Dictyostelium antigens
• Cytoskeletal elements
• Transcription factors
• Cluster Determinant (CD) antigens
• Muscular Dystrophy-associated proteins
• NCI – Cancer targets
• Neurodevelopment markers
• Cardiac development proteins
• Extracellular matrix proteins
• Cell adhesion receptors
• Cell signaling
• Epitope tags
• Stem cells
• Skeletal muscle
• Enzymes
• Human
• C. elegans
• Xenopus
• Nucleus
• Microbes (viruses, bacteria, fungi)