Leading floriscent dye innovator Biotium has unveiled a new tool aimed at simplifying and speeding up cell surface labeling, announcing the launch of its GlycoLiner Cell Surface Glycoprotein Labelling Kits.

 

Designed for rapid, selective, and covalent labeling of cell surface glycoproteins, the new kits address key limitations of conventional aminooxy reagents, which often react slowly and require harsh buffers, added catalysts, or high reagent concentrations. GlycoLiner Kits instead rely on a self-catalyzing aminooxy chemistry that delivers efficient labeling at neutral pH under gentler conditions.

 

The streamlined workflow allows surface labeling to be completed in approximately 20 minutes at room temperature or 4°C, making the kits well suited for experiments that require low temperatures to prevent protein internalization. Researchers can choose between biotin labeling or five bright fluorescent dye options.

 

Biotium reports that GlycoLiner Labelling is fully covalent and compatible with standard fixation and permeabilization protocols, as well as protein extraction methods for capturing biotinylated glycoproteins. This flexibility supports a wide range of downstream applications, including immunofluorescence staining, microscopy, flow cytometry, and biochemical analysis.

 

The kits also offer improved imaging clarity. Compared with other covalent cell surface stains that can strongly label dead cell cytoplasm, GlycoLiner produces noticeably reduced intracellular staining in dead cells, allowing clearer visualization of cell boundaries.

 

“Biotium has launched an extensive selection of unique membrane-labelling probes that support different workflows. We are excited to provide yet another option that offers highly selective imaging of live cell surface glycoproteins that is also compatible with fixation.” said Lori Roberts, Director of Bioscience.