SelectScience Q&A is a gold mine of expert tips
There’s a great new article out in SelectScience featuring tips from experts about how to use our xMAP® Technology for immune monitoring assays. SelectScience interviewed Holden Maecker and Yael Rosenberg-Hasson, Director and Technical Director, respectively, of the Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC) at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Check out these highlights from the Q&A:
The HIMC uses xMAP assays “for multiplexed detection of cytokines, chemokines, and other secreted proteins,” Maecker and Rosenberg-Hasson report. “We have standard panels for measuring 62 human or 38 mouse cytokines and related proteins … used on serum, plasma, cell supernatants, lysates, and other biological fluids.” They tell SelectScience that the technology is especially useful because of the wide variety of assays, simple protocols, and multiplexing capability.
The HIMC has boosted efficiency by running many small projects together on one plate and lowered costs by stocking kits that can be used across various projects.
The biggest sources of variability for any technology, according to the experts, are batch effects, sample prep, storage, and the methods used for analysis. “Some advance planning and standardization can help to avoid downstream problems,” the scientists note.
Protocol tips include optimizing sample processing and storage, carefully designing plates, running quality checks, and more.
Read the full article here: http://www.selectscience.net/selectscience-interviews/stanford-university-immunologists-share-top-tips-for-multiplex-assay-success/?artID=44851
Our thanks to Maecker and Rosenberg-Hasson for sharing this useful information that can help scientists with their multiplexing experiments!
Take a look at kits currently available from our partners. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, learn how to build your own assay with our xMAP Cookbook.