Hi everyone!
It is time for me to introduce to you the new DropArrayTM platform that my company has developed.
DropArrayTM is a platform aimed to rival the 96-well plate. The 96-well plate is the most common platform used to run assays, especially those that require numerous washing steps. One example of such assays is Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).
However, running assays on a 96-well plate has been shown to consume relatively large amounts of reagents, samples, and assay time. As for the washing steps, there is the risk of cross-contamination and/or carry-over of liquids across the different wells.
This new platform has been designed and developed to overcome the problems mentioned above.
I will briefly describe the components of the DropArrayTM that I most oftenly use:
S48/S96 Plate
The plates are actually microscope glass slides patterned with Teflon coat. The coat acts as a hydrophobic surface. The S48 plate has 48 wells (12x4), and the S96, 96 wells (12x8). The diameter of the wells is 2mm.
LT100 Wash Station
This station comprises of a chamber and control buttons to set the speed, duration and volume needed for washing. There is an inlet tubing to allow wash buffers to flow into the washing chamber, and an outlet tubing to drain it out of the chamber. The plate is loaded into the chamber and the washing (or rinsing) process can then start: drain any oil > fill chamber with wash buffer > shake > drain wash buffer.
The shaking step is to remove any media or liquid from the wells.
Incubation Oil
For cell seeding. After the cells are seeded into the wells, the wells are covered with incubation oil to prevent evaporation of media during the incubation period inside the CO2 incubator.
Rinsing Oil
Rinsing oil also prevents total evaporation of liquid from the wells when running the assay. What makes the rinsing oil different from the incubation oil is that the former has lower boiling point. So, the incubation oil is more suitable for the CO2 incubator environment. The rinsing oil is also applied to prevent carry-over between wash steps.
There are few other components, such as: Plate Adapter, Dispensing Guide, Tip Cassette, and Lid. But since I seldom/do not use them, I will not explain them here. Feel free to click here if you would like to know more.
The DropArrayTM platform is also used for cell-based assays. I will describe one such assay that I had done in week 9 in the next entry. So, stay tuned!
Nor Liyana
0607927A
TG 02- Group 8
Week 10 sharings
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