ELISA, which stands for Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay, is a type of immunological assay. Antigens from a sample are placed onto a surface, followed by an antibody in its most basic form. The antibody then must link to an enzyme, removing unbound antibodies. Finally, the enzyme’s substrate is added right before the detection phase.
ELISA has been in use for several decades; its first use dates back to 1971. However, its technology has come a long way since the early days, with more efficient machines, as found in automated ELISA. Read on to learn more about the automated ELISA system, what’s involved, and what its applications are.
What Are the Benefits of an Automated ELISA?
Manual ELISAs can be time-consuming and require considerable hands-on time, precise tasks to be completed to receive the results. However, there are some cases where an ELISA sandwich assay is needed or an indirect or direct ELISA. However, the features of the automated ELISA are robust.
The reader is part of an overall automated system that allows 96 microplates to be tested at one time. Its results for ELISA antibody detection are amazingly fast compared to other types. For example, one of the more arduous tasks of an ELISA assay is washing the plates. Instead of a technician needing to do the work, the automated machine will perform the job instead.
When the plates are put into the reader, all 96 results are read simultaneously, and the ELISA offers the results of each sample so there is little room for error.
What Is the Process of an Automated ELISA?
The process of an automated ELISA (up until the plate washing and automated reading) is much the same as other types of ELISA applications. The automated process looks like this:
- Antibody coating
- Protein capture
- Antibody detection
- Adding streptavidin-enzyme conjugate
- Adding colorimetric substrate
- Analysis
- Detection
Where the automated process becomes more efficient is with plate washing and automated reading.
What Are the Real-World Applications of an Automated ELISA?
An immunological assay is often used to discover antigens, viruses, and other conditions and an automated system has several real-world applications, allowing doctors and patients to receive results much more quickly. Some of these include:
- COVID-19. ELISA can be used to detect the presence of COVID-19 using cytokine and pro-inflammatory biomarkers.
- Inflammation. The reader can detect cytokine and chemokine cascades caused by anti-inflammatory responses.
- Cell therapy. ELISA can be used for cell therapy process development.
- Preclinical research. The automated reader can provide more data for preclinical research and faster results.
- Cancer. An automated ELISA can be used in cancer biomarker research.
- Bioprocess development. The system can detect host cell proteins (HCPs) for biotherapeutic production.
- Neuroscience. An ELISA can provide researchers information on low abundance biomarkers in serum, cerebrospinal fluid, and plasma.
- Viral titer quantification. An automated reader can quantify the viral titer of both adeno-associated virus capsids and lentivirus.
Overall, an automated reader and system is a great addition, particularly if you need to test multiple samples in an efficient and timely manner.
Hudson Robotics has been the leading supplier of automated products for over 38 years. To learn more on how your lab can benefit from automated ELISA, speak to a representative today!