Whole blood assays are very informative as they contain elements i.e. autologous plasma, platelets, red blood cells usually missing from in vitro experiments based on the use of cell lines grown in fetal calf serum (FCS) or PBMC isolated from a buffy coat. With carefully designed whole blood assays you can detect contaminants, assess efficacy, predict species cross reactivity and validate results on multiple donors.

By using whole blood assays, you can confirm your in vitro data before starting expensive in vivo/ex vivo assays or considering the use of sophisticated and expensive models (e.g. human stem cells).

1. If needed, a confidentiality agreement is signed to start discussing your needs
2. We agree on the protocol to be used to fulfil your needs i.e. number of donors, number of dilutions tested, positive and negative controls to be included, incubation times, readout(s)
3. We send you a quotation
4. After you accept our offer, you send us your compounds to be tested
5. Upon delivery, your compounds are tested on fresh blood
6. Less than 48h after you receive of draft report on the results

For a selected numbers of readouts (IL1β, IL6, IL8, TNF,…), supernatants are transferred from a 96-well plate to a 384-well plate for cytokine measurement by a FRET-based technique (HTRF®). This means that all of the 96 wells can be used for your samples and relevant controls. In that case, wells containing standards will be on the 384-well plate. On the other hand, for readouts which aren’t amenable to the FRET-based technique, 2 columns per 96-well plate (i.e. 16 wells) are usually saved to be used for standards.

HTRF® is a proprietary technology and a registered trademark of Cisbio Bioassays

In most cases, you’ll receive a draft report 48h after the delivery of your samples to us.

Working with primary tissues (including blood) involves dealing with donor to donor variations. To avoid losing a complete set of precious data because of a non-responding donor, we recommend including more than one donor in each assay.

Even if it’s a common practice in some labs, using blood from unqualified donors is dangerous and forbidden in many countries. In addition, repeating your experiments using blood from the same few donors is scientifically disputable. Through Blood Assay Solutions services you have access to fresh blood from a large number of qualified donors to validate your results.

Yes. If you plan to carry out more than 1000 tests per year (i.e. more than ten 96-well plates), ask us for a quotation.

Most of the questions you address with whole blood assays can be answered by looking at one or two carefully selected readouts. Multiplex readouts are much more expensive and not necessarily more informative. Your choice isn’t irreversible: for a reasonable fee, Blood Assay Solutions can store your supernatants if you want to assay additional readouts later on.

Yes. You can outsource your assays to us. Our short turnaround time and competitive prices will help you to guarantee customer satisfaction.