Biological reagents: cornerstones and precision tools for life science research

Biological Reagent (BR) refers to biological materials or organic compounds used in life science research, clinical medical diagnosis, biomedical research and development, and is an indispensable core consumable for modern biological experiments.From basic scientific research to clinical testing, from drug development to gene editing, biological reagents run through every aspect of life science research.

According to product attributes, biological reagents are mainly divided into three categories: molecular reagents, including PCR reagents, restriction enzymes, nucleic acid extraction kits, gene editing tools, etc., to serve gene cloning, amplification, sequencing and other operations; protein reagents, including antibodies, recombinant proteins, ELISA kits, Western Blot reagents, etc., for protein detection, quantitative and functional research; cell reagents, including cell culture media, fetal bovine serum, transfection reagents, cell cryopreservation fluid, etc., to support cell in vitro culture and functional analysis.

According to the national standard GB/T 46203-2025, a hierarchy of "five major categories, 16 medium categories, and 97 small categories" has been established for biological reagents for scientific research, covering biological materials, cell research reagents, nucleic acid research reagents, protein research reagents, and other categories.In terms of purity grade, China is mainly divided into three core grades: excellent purity (GR, purity ≥ 99.8%), analytical purity (AR), and chemical purity (CP). Different grades correspond to different experimental accuracy requirements.

In recent years, with the deepening of life science research,