How to Optimize an ELISA protocol

Application

Optimizing ELISA with flowbot ONE

Automating ELISA protocols with the flowbot® ONE liquid handler ensures consistent results, faster processing times, and higher throughput.

Moreover, the simplicity of the flowbot ONE’s drag and drop software helps reduce errors and ensures that vital pipetting moves, such as washing steps and dilutions, can be set up without complications.

The entire protocol took a total of 2 hours and 44 minutes and provided users with valuable walkaway time.

Case Study: Cortisol Competitive ELISA Kit

To showcase the applicability of the flowbot® ONE for ELISA applications, an eight-step standard row was prepared using Cortisol Competitive ELISA Kit (cat no. EIHCOR, Thermo Fisher).

Following the standard row preparation, 12 human saliva samples were included in the assay.

The flowbot ONE was then set up to automate the ELISA protocol completely, including addition of reagents and buffers, multiple washing steps and incubation of samples both with and without shaking thanks to the BioShake3000. This protocol was fully automated with no need for manual intervention.

The entire protocol took a total of 2 hours and 44 minutes and provided users with valuable walkaway time.

Results & Benefits

The Flowbot ONE’s intuitive software makes creating protocols simple and accessible, even for users with no prior automation experience. Its drag and drop user interface eliminates the need for coding or scripting, significantly reducing the risk of user errors.

Overall, flowbot ONE significantly improved the reliability and consistency of cortisol measurements, making it a valuable tool for laboratories aiming to increase throughput while maintaining high standards of data integrity in automating this ELISA protocol.

With the flowbot ONE software, users can enjoy five key benefits when running ELISA protocols, including:

5 Key Benefits

Setting up the dilution of standards to 8 different concentrations by simply clicking on the liquids’ source and target component.
Adding ‘loops’ to the washing step with a single click while defining the pipetting moves in the software. For example, this case study has 4 washing steps, but you only have to define 1 step and then add 3 loops.
Creating a new liquid class in the software’s intuitive Liquid Class Editor by typing in your liquid class settings. For this study, a new liquid class for saliva was created.
Importing sample IDs for the different samples and kit components in a csv file, further reducing the amount of work needed for setting up a protocol.
Using its unique software features to optimize performance and make the washing process faster. This protocol used the features: mixing, prewetting tips, liquid level detection, and aliquoting to reduce tip use.

Read application note More about ELISA on flowbot ONE

Hands-on time have been reduced from 2:15 hours to 20 min when running up to 8 biomarkers simultaneously in the lab. It also allowed us to increase the throughput from 4-5 ELISA plates to 6-8 plates per technician and reduce pipetting injuries.

Kishwar Musa – Director of the Clinical Lab, Nordic Bioscience

More about flowbot ONE

flowbot® ONE is an affordable and intuitive pipetting robot that enables everyone to automate their lab processes.

A guided user interface with drag and drop programming shapes user-friendly and flexible software that requires neither coding nor scripting. The software is browser-based and fully adjustable by the user, ensuring that you can easily switch between protocols and that your lab can stay agile.

flowbot ONE has a full set of unique features specifically designed to meet the needs we see in labs around the world, including next generation sequencing. It also has an open API that allows you to easily integrate it into a fully automated work cell.

All of this is wrapped up in high-quality plug & play hardware with 12 positions on the deck.

With flowbot ONE you’ll get an efficient and accurate workflow that can empower any lab.