Scientist Stories: Léa Pechtimaldjian on Advancing 3D Vascular Imaging with FlexAble Technology
How Léa Pechtimaldjian used Proteintech antibodies and FlexAble technology to accelerate 3D vascular imaging.
This story is part of a series, #InTheLabWithProteintech highlighting how Proteintech reagents have supported researchers in advancing their work.
Here, Léa Pechtimaldjian, a PhD student at the Bordeaux Institute of Oncology (BRIC), shares how she used Proteintech antibodies and FlexAble technology to overcome the challenges of 3D tissue clearing and achieve more reliable, efficient visualization of human vascular networks.
How did you first come across Proteintech reagents? What made you try them?
I first came across Proteintech reagents quite by chance, one of their antibodies was already available in our lab. After obtaining very convincing results, I naturally became curious to explore more of their catalog. At that time, I was working on tissue clearing using a hydrophobic-based method called Skin-iDISCO+, which allows 3D visualization of human vascular network, in cutaneous biopsies. Because these techniques rely on organic solvents, finding antibodies that could withstand these harsh clearing conditions was a real challenge.
In my search for robust and solvent-resistant antibodies, Proteintech quickly became a reference point. Their references consistently showed strong, specific labelling and excellent stability, which made them ideal for my work. A few months later, I was contacted by one of the Proteintech representatives, who offered me the opportunity to test their FlexAble technology. I was immediately intrigued as this innovation promised to simplify and speed up my staining workflow.
Compared to my standard protocol, I was able to save more than a week of processing time, without comprising image quality. The FlexAble system enabled me to perform dual stainings using two primary antibodies from the same host species, something that had always been a limitation in my 3D immunostaining experiments. This flexibility opened new possibilities for multiplexing and deeper phenotypic characterization of vascular structures and perivascular cells.
Which Proteintech products have you used in your work?
After my first successful experiences with Proteintech antibodies, I decided to go further and build a dedicated panel of antibodies compatible with tissue clearing, with the goal of revealing the complex human vascular network in 3D. This was an essential step for my project, as I study remodelling processes in skin biopsies, and needed reliable reagents that could maintain signal integrity after clearing. Once the foundation of this panel was established, I integrated the FlexAble antibodies into my workflow, with some adaptation on antibodies concentrations.
We now use FlexAble and Proteintech antibodies routinely in the lab, for tissue clearing, immunofluorescence on cultured cells and immunostaining on FFPE section, where they deliver bright, specific and reproductible signals with low background. Beyond imaging, I have also introduced Proteintech antibody references validated for flow cytometry into my toolkit. Their performance and ease of use have encouraged us to plan the integration of the FlexAble technology into our upcoming flow cytometry assays, which will help us extend multiplex analyses to the cellular level.
Our positive experience with Proteintech antibodies naturally led us to explore more of their product range. We have since expanded our purchases to include ELISA kits for protein quantification and growth factors for our cell cultures studies.
How have Proteintech antibodies impacted your research?
Before using Proteintech antibodies, reproducibility was a major issue in my experiments. Many antibodies simply didn’t tolerate the hydrophobic-based clearing steps required for 3D imaging, which often led to inconsistent or incomplete labeling. These technical limitations repeatedly delayed my experiments and made comparative analyses between samples unreliable.
Proteintech reagents completely changed this. Their antibodies provided consistent, specific, and solvent-resistant labeling, which dramatically improved the reproducibility of my results. The FlexAble technology further accelerated my workflow, allowing me to perform complex multiplex staining in a fraction of the time. Thanks to this, I can now design and complete experiments in days instead of weeks, with reproducible and high-quality results.
Can you share a specific discovery that was made possible with Proteintech products?
One of the key breakthroughs made possible by Proteintech products was the 3D mapping of human vascular and perivascular networks in skin biopsies using the Skin-iDISCO+ protocol. By combining several Proteintech antibodies with the FlexAble system, I was able to visualize different vascular markers simultaneously within the same cleared tissue sample.
This was the first time I could distinguish and characterize multiple vascular subpopulations in a single 3D reconstruction, without compromising signal quality or losing spatial resolution. The ability to perform dual stainings with antibodies from the same host species was essential to this success and it simply wouldn’t have been possible without the FlexAble reagents.
What impact did this have on your wider research goals or on your lab’s progress?
This technical advance had a clear impact on the direction and speed of my research. It allowed me to generate large, reproducible datasets that are now helping us better understand the cellular organization of human vasculature, particularly in pathological contexts.
In the lab, it also helped us standardize our protocols across different applications, from tissue clearing and immunofluorescence to flow cytometry and ELISA ensuring data consistency and saving valuable experimental time. Proteintech products have become a cornerstone of our workflows, directly supporting our long-term research goals on vascular biology and angiogenesis.
Have you been able to publish any research?
Our team has already published the Skin-iDISCO+ protocol, which provides a detailed list of antibodies compatible with hydrophobic-based tissue clearing for the visualization of human vasculature. This work highlights the optimization steps that enabled reliable 3D vascular imaging in human biopsies, several of these antibodies were sourced from Proteintech.
We have also shared our feedback on the FlexAble technology, describing how it simplified and accelerated multiplex immunostaining in cleared human tissues.
Currently, we are finalizing another manuscript, which is in the revision stage, combining multiple Proteintech reagents across diverse experimental approaches, including immunofluorescence on cultured cells, FFPE tissue staining, tissue clearing, Western blotting with phospho-specific antibodies, ELISA assays, and flow cytometry. The reproducibility and robustness of Proteintech products across these complementary techniques have been key to generating consistent, high-quality data suitable for publication
If you were to recommend Proteintech products, what would you tell them?
If I were to recommend Proteintech products to another researcher, I would simply say: they make complex experiments achievable. The antibodies are reliable, robust, and compatible with a wide range of techniques, even the most demanding ones like tissue clearing. The FlexAble technology, in particular, is a real time-saver and opens up new possibilities for multiplex imaging.
Beyond the quality of their products, what really stands out to me is the human side of Proteintech. Their technical support is not only responsive and scientifically knowledgeable, but also genuinely customer-oriented and appreciative of feedback. They take the time to listen, exchange ideas, and even reward constructive input from researchers. This level of engagement creates a real sense of partnership rather than a simple supplier–client relationship.
For anyone aiming for reproducibility, speed, and reliability, while working with a company that truly values its users, Proteintech is an excellent choice.
Pechtimaldjian Léa, PhD student at The Bordeaux Institute of oncology (BRIC)
1: FFPE immunofluorescence (Proteintech primary antibodies + secondary antibodies) 2: FFPE immunofluorescence (Proteintech primay antibodies + Flexable)
