Since early mankind, humans have had two constants, pregnancy and illness. It wasn't until 20 years ago that ELISA was created to test and determine both. In order to combat antigens, antibodies must be made using this process. First, the target antigen is placed at the bottom of a well. Then the primary antibody is added through a serum. If the antibodies match with the specific antigen, then they will attach, if not, they will remain unbound. After washing the wells with serum, the secondary antibody enzyme is added with an enzyme attached to the antibody which acts as an indicator. Adding substrate to the well will determine whether or not it is our target antigen because it will activate the enzyme to give a color change.
Purpose:
The purpose is to expand our knowledge on disease identification and how the ELISA process works.
Procedure: (Review from the Intro)
- Insert the antigen into the well.
- Primary antibody is added, (Wash and rinse)
- Secondary antibody is added, (Wash and rinse)
- Substrate is added, check for color change
At our lab table, we discovered that Ayan and I were not infected, but Lizzie and Elizabeth were infected. Overall the class had a healthy balance of infected and non-infected individuals. Some possible sources of error could include leaving some floating antibodies in the well even though it was washed or reusing pipette tips. Floating antibodies would give off a color change and reusing pipette tips would redistribute infected fluid to non-infected wells. After narrowing the results using correct timeline deciphering, we got four candidates and it was revealed that it was Taylor and Chloe.
