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Few scientists expect to run experiments on many multiple-well plates without some help. That usually involves a microplate reader. It’s pretty amazing to see what these platforms can do.
When shopping for a new microplate reader, many options should be considered. The first is the kind of detection required. For labs needing just one mode, say absorbance, take a look at the options listed on this Labcompare webpage. For more flexibility and future capabilities, many labs like a multimode microplate reader. For an overview, visit the Labcompare page on this product category. These pages can help scientists start the detection side of shopping.
Although the detection modes might make up the key to selecting the right microplate reader, that’s just the beginning of the options that can be considered.
An imaging addition
From BioTek Instruments (Winooski, VT), the latest advance in a microplate reader adds imaging. “BioTek’s Cytation Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Readers combine two essential research tools into one instrument: conventional multi-mode detection and automated digital widefield microscopy—enabling wide-ranging biochemical and imaging applications through this patented design,” says Lenore Buehrer, senior product marketing manager at BioTek Instruments. “Along with Gen5 Software, Cytation provides both well-based quantitative data and the phenotypic data that’s so important to many life science research labs today.”
This platform also offers several modes of detection: monochromator-based fluorescence, luminescence, and absorbance. As Buehrer notes, the detectors are all “in independent optical paths so there is no compromise in any detection mode.” Filter-based detection can be combined with the monochromator-based fluorescence detection mode.
The imaging comes in several platforms. Buehrer says, “The microscopy module is available in several initial Cytation configurations, or can be easily added to the system as the laboratory’s research requirements change.”
Scientists can use this platform in many ways. “Applications for Cytation are limited only by the researcher’s imagination!” Buehrer exclaims. “It can be used as a benchtop multi-mode workstation, a powerful automated imaging and analysis system, or integrated with BioTek’s BioSpa 8 Automated Incubator for walkaway automation of many biochemical and imaging workflows.”
The Epoch 2 Microplate Spectrophotometer makes UV-VIS measurements on 6- to 384-well microplates, cuvettes, and microvolume samples. (Image courtesy of BioTek Instruments.)Reaching for range
In some platforms, the range of detection really impacts the potential applications. For example, Tobias Pusterla, international marketing manager at BMG LABTECH (Ortenberg, Germany), calls the CLARIOstarPlus Microplate Reader “the ideal reader for assay development.” He says that because this multi-mode plate reader includes LVF monochromators, filters, and a spectrometer, plus the company’s newly developed Enhanced Dynamic Range (EDR) technology. This is useful, Pusterla explains, because “analytes often cover a vast range of concentrations, making sample signals that have to be measured on a plate reader, span over a wide range of signal intensities—from dim to very bright.” With EDR, the CLARIOstarPlus Microplate Reader automatically adjusts to that variation in signal.
The CLARIOstarPlus Microplate Reader is excellent for assay development. (Image courtesy of BMG LABTECH.)BMG LABTECH developed EDR for the CLARIOstarPlus Microplate Reader. This technology “is specifically designed to offer the largest possible dynamic range—eight concentration decades,” Pusterla explains. “This provides researchers with an unprecedented convenience in microplate measurements, as highly reliable results can be measured over a large dynamic range with no manual intervention.” This benefits a range of applications, such as kinetic detection. “Here, users usually have to find a compromise between sensitivity and width of the dynamic range,” Pusterla points out. “In case of detector saturation because of out-of-range signals, the kinetic has to be repeated with a lower gain value.” He adds, “This results in a waste of time and reagents.”
This platform also allows scientists to carefully control a sample’s environment. In addition to environmental controls, such as incubation temperature, a shaker and reagent injectors make it easier to treat a sample as needed. Pusterla says that these features make “the CLARIOstarPlus the ideal platform for any live cell-based assay.”
Make it modular
For the Spark Multimode Microplate Reader, Tecan (Männedorf, Switzerland) made it simultaneously more flexible and application-centric with modules. With these modules, the company offers the Spark in four present configurations: genomics and proteomics, microbiology, cell-based assays, and drug discovery. As Siegfried Sasshofer, director of marketing detection at Tecan, says, “Multi-mode readers are the workhorse in many labs and used for many applications, but Tecan has designed its Spark reader with the flexibility to choose preset configurations or create a completely bespoke instrument to meet these varying needs.”
In genomics, for example, Sasshofer points out that “lots of people do DNA quantification and purity checks, and our high-speed monochromator can analyze the wavelength spectrum in less than five seconds.” Plus, that analysis takes just 2 microliters of sample. This reader can also be used with filters when preferred. “A customer might want the sensitivity of a filter combined with the flexibility of a monochromator for assays in the future,” Sasshofer says.
For drug-discovery work, the Te-Cool Cooling Module can be very useful. “It enables Spark to heat or cool the instrument to keep it at a constant temperature for consistent results of temperature sensitive assays,” Sasshofer explains.
With complete incubation, the sample environment can be controlled for temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. That makes it possible to analyze live cells. “The cells can be left in the incubator and analyzed over days,” Sasshofer says. “The system can also automatically add drugs and measure the effects and offers brightfield imaging as an option.”
All of these features can be controlled through a software app that works with Android or iOS. “It keeps you connected with the instruments and triggers cloud solutions, like remote monitoring,” Sasshofer explains. “The instrument even triggers notifications, like instrument availability.”
Easier operation
The most-desired features in a new microplate reader usually depend on the user. Adyary Fallarero, senior application scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA), understands the various needs at the bench. She has run a research team at the University of Helsinki that developed new methods of antimicrobial drug discovery. Her research on bacterial biofilms even earned the 2018 Oskar Öflund’s Foundation Grand Prize. So, she knows what a user wants.
Maybe that’s why the new Thermo Scientific Multiskan Sky Microplate Spectrophotometer focuses on the user experience. In describing this instrument, Fallarero says, “all the new features in the Multiskan Sky Microplate Reader are customer-centric.” Those features include ready-made assay methods, wavelength-adjusted heatmaps, and cloud-based capabilities for assessing data. As Fallarero points out, “Multiskan Sky is actually the first microplate reader connected to the Thermo Fisher Cloud, which is an innovative digital ecosystem tailored to address the needs of scientists for secure remote instrument access, scientific analysis, and data storage.”
The Thermo Scientific Multiskan Sky Microplate Spectrophotometer can be connected to the Thermo Fisher Cloud for remote instrument access, scientific analysis, and data storage. (Image courtesy of Thermo Fisher Scientific.)
Here, Thermo Fisher developers really tried to make it easier to look at data. “A particularly innovative feature of the Multiskan Sky Microplate Reader is the proprietary tool that has been developed to visualize the visible-spectra results in a mirror-like mode that closely resembles the colors of the measured plates scientists are accustomed to using,” Fallarero says. “Instead of the traditional ‘one-color-fits-all’ strategy, the tool offers a wavelength-adjusted and realistic heatmap of the photometric results.” That can really come in handy, she says, when “eye-balling a large set of results in high-throughput screening assays—such as those performed in 384-well plates—or where signals are measured at two wavelengths, for instance, in cell-viability assays.”
In this instrument category, just seeing is not enough. Scientists expect the ability to see more, understand sample signals in new ways, and then be able to easily collect and analyze the data. Just to make it a little more interesting, that all needs to happen pretty fast. Plus, scientists expect some flexibility in these platforms, such as multiple detection modes, various sample-holding options, or multiple uses of the same system. As the information here reveals, all of that is available, and from more than one supplier. Take a look to find the microplate platform that provides the best view for your lab.
Mike May is a freelance writer and editor living in Texas. He can be reached at [email protected]