How to dry the plates?

[Questions from customers]

Hi Mabtech!

 

I was wondering if you could suggest the best way to dry the fluorospot plates.

 

Should they just be left at room temp to dry or can they go in an incubator for a while?

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Best wishes,

A

 

 

[Jens@mabtech.com]

Hi A!

 

I don’t recommend the incubator. Just leave the plates up-side down in the hood at RT for 60 minutes.

 

Tip: place the lid upside down on the floor of the hood, then place the plate with one side on top the lid, so that it’s angled so to speak, so that air can reach the membranes. Instead of the lid you can use e.g. a tube-holder like one of my co-workers did today, see attached photo.

 

 

If you want to speed up the drying process you could instead place the plate upside down on the ventilation holes of the hood for 45 minutes. Please be aware however, that this latter method comes with a slightly higher risk of getting dust particles on the membranes and that those dust particles might interfere with your results.

 

The fluorophores aren’t that sensitive to normal light, but shut off the lights of the hood just to be safe.

 

Kind regards,
Jens

[Jens@mabtech.com]

Hi again A,

 

Relating to your question on drying, I received a question from another customer, asking whether the round strangely colored artefacts in the middle of the membrane seen in the attached photo was due to insufficient drying.

 

 

I think that this customer is correct, that kind of artefact is most probably due to insufficient drying of the membrane before analysis. I talked to one of my co-workers about it, and she said that she always dries the plates upside down on top of the ventilation holes of the hood for 45 minutes. See attached photo. 

 

 

She has never had any issue with dust particles interfering with the results. Different schools I guess, but please know that this is a good and effective way of drying the plates as well. (In an earlier version of my response I wrote that it would be enough to dry plates in this manner for 15 minutes, but after discussion with my co-workers I've now edited the post to say 45 minutes).

 

Kind regards,

Jens