Porvair Sciences Ltd. has announced a new technical report that evaluates well-to-well crosstalk in commercially available microplates used for luminescence measurements.

The use of luminescence assays and reagents in drug discovery has increased significantly over the past decade due to a combination of ease of use, very high specificity of assays and good sensitivity at low levels of screened compounds. Modern photometric instruments are able to accurately count very low levels of photon emissions from luminescence substrates and this has led to an increasing focus on the optical crosstalk inherent in the design of microplates and the signal-to-noise ratio that can be experimentally obtained.

The technical report compares two different manufacturer's solid white polystyrene shallow well microplates with the patented Porvair Sciences Krystal 2000 black and white design which combines white individual wells with a solid black plate matrix. A luminescent assay using Firefly luciferase was used for the comparison.

The reported experimental results demonstrate that the unique Krystal 2000 black & white plate offers significant benefits for the determination of low-level luciferase based assays in screening and drug development. The combination of effective quenching by carbon black and increased reflectivity from titanium dioxide brightener yields an improved signal-to-noise ratio and better intra-plate dynamic range, giving screeners the opportunity to screen for weaker hits, at lower detection levels or with reduced concentrations of reagents.

Designed to conform to the standard 96-well microplate format - Porvair's Krystal 2000 black and white plate is fully compatible with all commercially available top reading luminometers, multi mode readers, robotic sample processors and automated liquid handling systems.

Established in 1992, Porvair Sciences Ltd. expertise in microplate technology and manufacturing covers scientific fields including Life Sciences, Drug Discovery, Combinatorial Chemistry, Solid Phase Extraction, Protein Purification, High Throughput Screening, Proteomics and Genomics. Porvair Sciences Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Porvair plc.

For a copy of the technical report or further information on Krystal 2000 black and white microplates please contact Porvair Sciences Ltd. on telephone +44-1372-824290 or email int.sales@porvair-sciences.com