Customer Reviews

Immunocytochemistry: A Practical Guide for Biomedical Research

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This book delivers on a very important aspect of immunocytochemistry: the practice. Overall, it is a very clearly written text that is easily understood by the relative novice. Thus, it should be a staple for trainees for whom ICC is required, and should be available to these individuals while they are at the bench. However, it also contains some very practical "insider" tips and tricks, which make it exceedingly useful for the more advanced technician or investigator. For example, prior to reading this, I was satisfied with the number of washing steps that were used following primary antibody incubation in my own lab, believing this to have been optimized emperically at some time in the past. Now that I have heeded Dr. Burry's advice, I have been able to revise my standard protocols, and my immunolabeling results have improved dramatically.

Much of the contents going into this book have been culled through years of experience, and have been passed down from investigator to trainee in one form or another over the years. Now that this has been compiled and supplemented with some nice experimental evidence, it is a must have. In particular, this book not only explicates steps one should follow, but it also (and quite importantly) explains why these steps are done, and how they may be optimized. To use an analogy, this book has the potential to turn the "cook" (one who follows recipes rather blindly) into the "chef" (one with sufficient knowledge to alter a recipe so as to improve the dish).

I believe it will prove useful for investigators to have a copy of this excellent resource at arm's length, especially as one struggles to troubleshoot perplexing experimental results. Those of us who perform ICC routinely know that antibodies can be notoriously fickle, and may frequently produce deceptive or erroneous results. Indeed, experience makes it clear that many commercial antibodies fail perform as advertised. Stringent and cautious interpretation, guided by the use of appropriate controls, is invariably warranted. As such, attention to the stepwise rules provided in this text could save one from presenting or publishing erroneous data.