About TNK1
The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the tyrosine protein kinase family. Tyrosine protein kinases are important regulators of intracellular signal transduction pathways, mediating cellular proliferation, survival, and development. This gene is highly expressed in fetal tissues and at lower levels in few adult tissues, thus may function in signaling pathways utilized broadly during fetal development, and more selectively in adult tissues. It plays a negative regulatory role in the Ras-Raf1-MAPK pathway, and knockout mice have been shown to develop spontaneous tumors, suggesting a role as a tumor suppressor gene. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2011]

About FITC
Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) has an excitation peak at 495 nm and an emission peak at 519 nm. The name FITC is a misnomer in that the isothiocyanate is a reactive form of this dye. Once FITC is conjugated to an antibody, it is simply Fluorescein conjugated. FITC is one of the most widely used dyes for fluorescent applications, therefore most instruments come standard with a 488 nm laser and FITC filter set up. FITC is commonly conjugated to secondary antibodies and used in applications such as flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. FITC is relatively dim, sensitive to photobleaching and it is susceptible to changes is pH. There are better performing alternatives to FITC, like Vio®Bright 515, Alexa Fluor™ 488, iFluor® 488, CF®488A and DY-488. FITC is a long-time generic dye with no sole manufacturer or trademark.