The NIH Tetramer Facility provides MHC class I and class II tetramer reagents to the research community worldwide.

Established in 1999, the NIH Tetramer Facility provides custom synthesis and distribution of soluble MHC-peptide tetramer reagents that can be used to stain antigen-specific T cells. These tetramers are produced at the NIH Tetramer Facility contract site located at Emory University. Reagents are free to approved investigators, although requestors must provide the epitope peptides and pay for shipping. (See Request Process for more details.)

All reagents are quality controlled (see FACS Analysis of Stained Cells) and can be labeled with commercially-manufactured or custom-made fluorophores or provided in biotinylated monomer form.

While the majority of reagents produced are classical class I tetramers, the NIH Tetramer Facility also provides human and mouse CD1d monomers and tetramers and select human and mouse class II MHC tetramers.

Please note that the NIH Tetramer Facility generally does not provide tetramers sold by Beckman Coulter Immunomics Operations (BCI). Please check the list of Excluded Tetramers before ordering.

Comments or suggestions for new reagents are welcome.

The NIH Tetramer Facility is supported by a contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with co-sponsorship by the National Cancer Institute, components of the National Institutes of Health in the department of Health and Human Services.