Plate Reader - Light Scattering

Light Scattering

There are instruments for measuring the dynamic or static light scattered from samples in a microplate. Companies that sell plate readers for dynamic light scattering include Wyatt Technology and Malvern Technology. Another company, Harbinger Biotechnology and Engineering, specializes in an instrument for static light scattering.

Many of the detection modes (absorbance, fluorescence intensity, luminescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization) are available stand-alone in dedicated plate readers, but are very often found today combined into one instrument (multi-mode plate reader). The range of applications for multi-mode plate readers is extremely large. Some of the most common assays are:

• ELISAs
• Protein and cell growth assays
• Nucleic acid quantitation
• Molecular interactions
• Enzyme activity
• Cell toxicity, proliferation, and viability
• ATP quantification
• Immunoassays
• High throughput screening of compounds and targets in drug discovery

While "plate reader" usually refers to the devices described above, many variations are available. Some examples of other devices working with the microplate format are:

• ELISPOT plate readers, used to count the colored spots that are formed in the course of ELISPOT assays.
• High throughput imagers that can measure all the wells of a microplate at once
• High content screening (HCS) systems that image each well with high resolution, to look at cell populations
• Label-free instruments that use specialized microplates to measure binding events without the use of chemical markers