Plate Reader

This page describes CCMI's Perkin-Elmer HTS 7000 Bio Assay reader. Recharges for this instrument are $1 per plate read and the machine itself has a good range of capabilities (see below). If you would like to use this machine, you will need to be trained and allocated a username and password. Call us (x 1564) to set up a tutorial.

Available Wavelengths
Excitation (nm) Emission (nm) Absorption (nm)
  • 320
  • 360
  • 405
  • 430
  • 455
  • 485
  • 530
  • 540
    •
  • 590
  • 390
    •
  • 430
  • 465
  • 485
  • 510
  • 535
  • 595
  • 612
  • 635
  • 650
  • 260
  • 280
  • 340
  • 405
  • 492
  • 620
Additional Features
Notes
Do not forget your controls! The plate reader will always be happy to give you a nice print out of unitless numbers that won't mean anything unless you can compare them to a control value.

Hints and tips

  • Replicates are very important as they control for differences in staining, sampling error, etc. Replicate data has much more credibility. If in doubt set up triplicates at least and use the median value for each replicate set (not the mean!).
  • You don't have to have to fill an entire plate!
  • Use similar numbers of cells in wells that you are directly comparing.
  • Use more cells per well for a brighter signal. Try for confluency.
  • Do not use too few cells. Cells like to settle and grow around the edges of the well and the plate reader may miss these as it reads mostly in the center of the well.
  • Use the same cell lines for both your control samples and your experimental samples - don't try to directly compare different types of cells.
  • Don't try to compare cells of the same line that have been treated in radically different manners, such as fixed versus live cells, or cells that are expressing GFP versus cells that are not, even if you are interested in the orange signal and think that the green shouldn't make a difference - it will!