Immuno Staining Tray review

4 March 2013  |  Admin

Usability:   In many aspects, the tray is very good. Although it is intended for 20 slides, I could stain 24 slides at the same time without any problem.

The tray is very even in height, hence the slides are absolutely even while on the tray. This is very important, as we only use a small volume of antibody on the specimen, it shouldn’t run to a corner of the slides.  I have used the tray several times now and I have never had the small volume of antibody moving away from the specimen.

The sticky tape on the raised parts to hold the slides is good. It keeps the slides from minor movements. I have never had any other tray I used with the sticky tape – good.

I would like to know what material the tray is made of. Almost 6 hours a day the inside of it is wet. This is because of constant washing of the slides etc. So far it has been very good. However, should the tray-material give in or start to have a small crack, it will then leak washing buffers. It seems to me that it is a strong material and cannot be easily damaged.

My only concern is the weight of the tray. As you are aware, the tray is very light weight. Once the specimens are treated with antibody, we leave the tray to be incubated on the bench or in the fridge for few hours / overnight. It has been a worry that a small knock to the tray can completely drop all the slides and spill all the samples.  All the trays I have previously used are much more heavier than this tray.

Finally it was very easy to clean it at the end of experiments every day – no problem.