The present invention relates to receptors for growth factors, specifically to the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGF-R). More particularly, it provides various purified fibroblast growth factor receptor proteins, nucleic acids encoding the receptor proteins, methods for the production of purified FGF-R proteins, proteins made by these methods, antibodies against these proteins, diagnostic and therapeutic uses of these various reagents, and methods of detecting a fibroblast growth factor in a sample using the disclosed fibroblast growth factor receptors.