Traditional Wash Steps are replaced by Simple Flush of Optimiser™ Microchannels
The microchannel at the base of each well only holds ~5 μl of reagent. The small dimensions and low volume capacity of the microchannel can be leveraged to remove cumbersome wash steps within the assay. For instance, after primary antibody binding in conventional plates, a wash step is required.
In Optimiser™, when the capture antibody reagent is loaded, it fills the channel and a slight excess volume is drawn out by the capillary pad. The remaining volume is trapped by capillary forces in the microchannel. With Optimiser™, plate “washing” is replaced by a simple pipetting step to add 5 μl of wash buffer to the well. When the wash buffer (any second liquid) is added, the capillary barrier at the microchannel inlet is broken and the pad draws out the capture antibody reagent. Owing to the small cross-section of the channel, there is minimal mixing between the two reagents and the wash buffer effectively “flushes” out the capture antibody reagent.
This makes Optimiser™ operations very easy and automation friendly (no wash station)!