What is “Assay Buffer?”
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Great question, I use buffers all the time in my lab. Basically a lot of the chemical tests we run work best at a particular pH, or we want to simulate the pH that exists in the natural environment the sample was sourced from. So to help the reaction be optimal for our experiment, we can use a buffer to keep the pH at a desired level. Other times, the buffer can help preserve materials for storage. This is common in DNA sequencing where the isolated DNA will be stored in a particular buffer that helps prevent the DNA from degrading.
**So a buffer is generally a chemical that isn’t mean to react directly with anything in the experiment/test, but rather helps keep the conditions optimal for all the other stuff going on.**
An assay is just a chemical test meant to determine how much of something is in a sample. So a buffer can be used in assays, but also in many other contexts.
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