The SpectraMax® Mini Multi-Mode Microplate Reader offers a budget friendly solution that gives you exactly what you need when you need it. With three modes of detection for UV-Vis absorbance, fluorescence and luminescence, the SpectraMax Mini reader is user upgradeable - from 2 to 3 modes, providing researchers with a versatile instrument that does not compromise on sensitivity or performance. Included SoftMax® Pro Software enables rapid data generation and analysis helping you achieve more in less time.
Learn all about absorbance detection – how it works, how it’s measured, and how it can be used to calculate concentration. We also provide information on common absorbance applications and assays including ELISAs, nucleic acid and protein quantitation, and microbial growth.
Cell viability refers to the number of healthy cells in a population and can be evaluated using assays that measure enzyme activity, cell membrane integrity, ATP production, and other indicators. These methods can employ luminescent, fluorescent, or colorimetric readouts as indicators of general cell viability or even specific cellular pathways. Cytotoxicity and cell viability assays are often used to assess a drug or other treatment’s effect, and are valuable tools in the search for new therapeutics, as well as advancing our understanding of how normal cells function.
Cellular signaling allows cells to respond to their environment as well as to communicate with other cells. Proteins located on the cell surface can receive signals from the surroundings and transmit information into the cell via a series of protein interactions and biochemical reactions that comprise a signaling pathway. Multicellular organisms rely upon an extensive array of signaling pathways to coordinate the proper growth, regulation, and functioning of cells and tissues. If signaling between or within cells is dysregulated, inappropriate cellular responses may lead to cancer and other diseases.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are used to measure the amount of a specific protein, typically in a microplate format, and results are most often detected via absorbance in the visible wavelength range. Chemiluminescent and fluorescent ELISA formats offer enhanced sensitivity for accurate quantitation of less abundant analytes.
Learn all about fluorescence detection – what it is, how it works, and the instruments used to measure the fluorescence of a sample. We also cover many fluorescence-based assays including cell viability, GPCR activity, and fluorescent nucleic acid quantification.
Learn about luminescence detection – what it is, how it works, and the advantages of luminescence over other detection modes. We’ll cover key luminescence-based assays including dual-luciferase reporter gene, chemiluminescent ELISA, cytotoxicity, and BRET.
Microbes, including bacteria, have been estimated to make up about 15 percent of the earth’s biomass, and microbes in the human body outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. These microorganisms provide great benefit to us and are also vital to many fields of research from medicine to alternative energy production. On the other hand, monitoring for microbes and the toxic substances they produce is necessary to ensure the safety of pharmaceutical products. Scientists whose research relies on mammalian cells must carefully monitor these cultures for unwanted microbial contaminants to ensure that their experimental results are reliable.
Nucleic acids are large biomolecules common to all known life forms. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) consists of a double strand of pairs of nucleotides, while ribonucleic acid (RNA) is typically a single strand. In DNA, the nucleotides are adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, while RNA contains uracil instead of thymine. DNA makes up the genetic material of all organisms, encoding the information cells need to synthesize proteins.
Protein detection, quantitation, and analysis are central to the investigation of a wide variety of biological processes. Measuring the concentration of protein is necessary to processes ranging from protein purification and labeling to sample preparation for electrophoresis. Protein can be quantitated directly via absorbance at 280 nm, or indirectly using colorimetric (BCA, Bradford, etc.) or fluorometric methods offering advantages such as greater sensitivity. To identify and measure a specific protein within a complex sample, for example, serum or cell lysate, an ELISA may be used.
Publications
According to Biocompare, “one of the most overlooked pieces of equipment in any lab is the microplate reader. While they play an important role in generating data from a wide range o…
Application Note
Accurate quantification of nucleic acid concentration is important for downstream applications including transfection, cloning, PCR, and next generation sequencing (NGS). Often, these…
Publications
The pharmaceutical world is a highly regulated environment. And for good reason. As a potential drug moves through the development process – from the in vitro discovery phase, to pre…
Blog
Advancements in genetic engineering and synthetic biology have allowed numerous breakthroughs in recent decades. The importance of cell line development needs an honorable mention.…
Application Note
Monitoring for contaminants is a critical step during the production process in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. A frequent contaminant, endotoxin, can cause fever,…
eBook
We understand what a challenging time this is for those who are working to get accelerated testing and medicines to the market as soon as possible and are committed to supporting sci…
Flyer
Perform your favorite applications including ELISA, DNA and protein quantitation, cell viability, gene expression with a user-friendly reader.
Brochure
The SpectraMax® Mini Multi-Mode Microplate Reader offers a budget-friendly solution that gives you exactly what you need when you need it.
Application Note
Nucleic acid quantitation is an essential assay that is part of many workflows in genetics, molecular, and cellular biology. Various methods have been developed to quantitate nucleic…
Application Note
Firefly luciferase is a widely used reporter to study gene regulation and function. It is a very sensitive reporter due to the lack of any endogenous luciferase activity in mammalian…
Application Note
Biologic drugs are the largest and fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry with sales of €500bn and an annual growth of 8%. Every manufacturing process for potential…
Application Note
Double-stranded DNA is typically quantitated in microplate readers by measuring the absorbance of the DNA solution at 260 nm. However, this method is only able to measure down to about…
Leverage automated, end-to-end workflows to enable complex organoid assays
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Small Lab, Big Challenges - How the Right Reader can Impact Productivity