What is the ELISA test?
In: 6
*actually trying to explain to a…12 year old, if not 5 year old*
An ELISA is a way to measure how much of a biological chemical you have in a liquid / solution. For example, if you want to measure how much “X protein” is in someone’s blood, the way it works is:
1. You have a tiny plastic container coated with something sticky – usually a special sticky substance that only X proteins will stick to.
2. You pour some plasma from blood into the coated plastic container and let it sit so any X proteins in the plasma have time to stick to the coating in the container (You’re “capturing” all the X protein molecules).
3. Pour out the remaining plasma liquid and now add some special chemicals into the container that will react and produce color only if protein X is present in the container.
Usually ELISA’s are done in plastic plates containing 96 tiny wells. In our example, only wells that had “captured” any protein X would become colored at the end. If someone’s blood didn’t contain protein X, the well containing their plasma would not be colored. The more protein X, the darker the color.
For learning about lab techniques, usually watching videos on youtube is most helpful.
Latest Answers