Hello,
Sometimes, I have to protect the samples/plates from light such as ELISA, immunofluorescence, etc.
I'm usually perform the procedures under the normal room-light, and cover the samples/plates with aluminium foil when they are incubated.
In the near future, I have a plan to do Luminex, and the protocol looks like I have to protect from lights in most of the procedure.
In this case, how you protect the plates from light?
Should I have to find the dark room and perform all the things in there?
Best,
Sojin
you can also stick the plate into a desk drawer and close tightly, I find that that works well. For adding reagents and mixing ect, the few minutes in light is not going to kill the reaction. Just do it fast and then place in the dark for incuations
Usually these experiments are really not THAT fragile, that a little light exposure ruins them immediately. Oftentimes, the discoloration of dyes is also reversible. Not exposing it to direct sunlight and covering it with aluminium foil and possibly toning down the lighting should be decent enough steps to take.
If you want to be completely sure there are multiple simple steps you can take.
1. Close the windows and curtains, jalousies or whatever you can do in your lab
2. Tone down the room lighting as much as you can (If you deem it necessary, get a red lightbulb and put it in a desk lamp to use as minimal lighting, that should be the cheapest option)
3. For incubation, aluminium foil should be fine, you could also use something like a plastic or Styrofoam box as additional cover (possibly also covered in aluminium foil) or put the plate into the drawer or cabinet during incubation
4. And possibly most important! Inform your colleagues about your experiments so they won’t open the curtains or switch the light on etc. If you can’t be present all the time or can’t inform everyone just put a note on the door, and/or light switch, and/or or windows
@Victoria Wu, you answered the same thing three times, I have had the same problem recently, since it was not immediatly displaying the posted answer because of some error it seems. Try posting and refresing (F5) next time, that should solve the problem.
You can also delete the additional copys of your anwer using the dropdown menu at the top right of your posting.
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