Improved Plate Washing for ELISpot Assays

Tecan’s HydroFlex microplate washer has allowed hematologists at the Department of Oncology and Hematology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, to introduce automated washing for Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSpot (ELISpot) assays.

The laboratory performs detailed studies on the immune response of patients to viral, fungal and tumor antigens. Dr Giovanni Riva, a postdoctoral scientist at the laboratory, explained: “We are essentially performing clinical research studies, investigating the immune response in both peripheral blood and bone marrow samples, and have also expanded our field of research to include the study of polymorphisms, in an attempt to correlate genetic differences and disease.”

“Our laboratory uses the Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSpot (ELISpot) assay, a very sensitive immunoassay, for the detection of secreted cytokines at the single cell level. The washing stages of the assay are critical, and when performed manually are very time consuming and labour intensive. We wanted to improve the methodology, and decided to change to automated washing using the HydroFlex plate washer. We now have a standardised, reproducible, automatic plate washing method, which frees staff time, allowing them to perform other tasks.”

Giovanni concluded: “The instrument has proved very reliable and is simple to use. We simply define the protocol for washing, insert a plate and then everything is done automatically. The HydroFlex is a great improvement to the ELISpot assay and our laboratory.”