Hi Randi, The statement that a stainer is only as good as it's antibodies is nails on a chalk board to me. You can get a good stainer and if the company has bad antibodies ... *change them!* No one company can do it all. If they tell you otherwise RUN they are lieing to you. The definition of a good instrument is one that allows you the flexability to use whatever antibodies you need to use. If you need to run an antibody that isn't offered by the company that sells your instrument, there are thousands of other antibody companies to choose from. If the antibody requires the use of species of secondary that is not offered by the company and the company doesn't allow you to use something else, it is not worth using. Instrumentation is a function of good engineering and software programming. It has little if anything to do with the biochemistry of antibody applications. I really don't mean to sound sharp here, but there are too many people that think that the company that sells their instrument is the only company that they can use. If this is the case with any instrument the customer got shafted in buying the instrument.
Amos Message: 6 Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:57:44 -0300 From: "Hayes, Randi (R1SE)" <raha...@serha.ca> Subject: [Histonet] Best IHC Stainer To: <histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu> Message-ID: <cdf8c140352fb04a913cf61753056bd30378d...@rhaex1.rha-rrs.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" A stainer is only as good as its antibodies. We've been less than impressed with the quality of Cell Marque antibodies as well as their customer service. Contact me if you want specifics. What I would suggest is when looking for "the best", look for the antibodies that rank the most robust on external EQA surveys (UK Nequas, NordiQC as examples) and go with a system that gives you the flexibility (within reasonable cost) to use the most reliable antibodies. We are Ventana XT users and have been for over 5 years. It provides good staining but with little flexibility to use other vendors antibodies unless you want to completely blow your budget. This forces you to use Cell Marque products and I've already shared my opinion on that. Randi Hayes Histology Supervisor The Moncton Hospital Regional Health Authority B Moncton, NB _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet