Whois & Analysis for novusbio.com

Novus Biologicals was a biotech company based in Littleton, Colorado, USA with offices in San Diego, California, Oakville, ON, Canada and the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, UK.

The company develops, licenses and markets research materials to scientists in academic, corporate and government laboratories.

Novus, like many others companies such as Abcam, Covance, Proteintech Group, EnCor Biotechnology and Millipore Corporation, arose to answer a call for research grade antibodies for the scientific market.

It was acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014.

An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as bacteria and viruses.

The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the harmful agent, called an antigen, via the Fab's variable region.

Each tip of the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope (analogous to a lock) that is specific for one particular epitope (similarly analogous to a key) on an antigen, allowing these two structures to bind together with precision.

Using this binding mechanism, an antibody can tag a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or can neutralize its target directly (for example, by blocking a part of a microbe that is essential for its invasion and survival).

Depending on the antigen, the binding may impede the biological process causing the disease or may activate macrophages to destroy the foreign substance.

The ability of an antibody to communicate with the other components of the immune system is mediated via its Fc region (located at the base of the "Y"), which contains a conserved glycosylation site involved in these interactions.

The production of antibodies is the main function of the humoral immune system.

A reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or added to test if a reaction occurs.

The terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably—however, a reactant is more specifically a substance consumed in the course of a chemical reaction.

Solvents, though involved in the reaction, are usually not called reactants.

Similarly, catalysts are not consumed by the reaction, so they are not reactants.

In biochemistry, especially in connection with enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the reactants are commonly called substrates.

Proteins (or) are large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues.

Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, and transporting molecules from one location to another.

Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific three-dimensional structure that determines its activity.

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, identification and taxonomy.

Modern biology is a vast and eclectic field, composed of many .

However, despite the broad scope of biology, there are certain unifying concepts within it that consolidate it into single, coherent field.

In general, biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the creation of new species.

It is also understood today that all organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable and vital condition known as homeostasis.