How to find a biotech company's secret recipe

I have a story to share. I was a research scholar in Biotechnology in IIT Bombay few years back. I was doing an experiment on cell death by annexin V-Propidium Iodide (PI) assay. I was using a kit supplied by a commercial manufacturer. Incidentally after a series of lab mates used it and when my turn came the crucial buffer of the assay was finished though the annexin V antibody and PI was very much there. My advisor suggested me to not to depend on the manufacturer but to make my own buffer. I was clueless because the supplier did not provide the buffer composition. I searched in internet for a possible composition source. Ultimately a widely used cell biology laboratory protocol book came to my rescue. I found that a simple salt CaCl₂ and a HEPES buffer were the key components. I made the buffer according to the instruction laid in the book and voila! utilized that buffer for very many reactions later on.

I learnt this lesson to scour for the buffer composition because my buffer was finished and the company did not provide the ‘secret’ composition. If all company start doing this research will be hampered. Protocols and buffer compositions should be clearly mentioned. In fact earlier version of Maniatis’s Molecular Cloning – a bible for cloning had a nice preface urging the ‘Scientific Illiterates’ to know of the reaction components scientists were using.