[Histonet] Expiration dates

[Amos Brooks]

Amy,
   It is probably too late to suggest this, but I'd start by not buying such
an instrument in the first place. Standardization is nice, but the tech
should be smarter than the instrument. Many companies want techs running
these instruments to be mindless drones that do little more than transport
slides from microtome to stainer and back. Always look for an instrument
that allows you maximum flexibility with every aspect of it's use.
   Other than that you would end up needing to "trick" the instrument into
thinking that it is running something else that uses the same staining
protocol. Just a shot in the dark, have you tried photocopying an active bar
code and taping (gluing) it to the expired one? (Just make sure the assigned
protocol matches in terms of retrieval technique and clonality for the
detection) I'm sure that would violate the instrument manufacturer's terms
of service, but it is clearly not functioning for you if you can't use it.

Let me know how that works out for you,
Amos


Message: 4
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:04:10 -0400
From: "Senn, Amy R" <arsenn <@t> hsh.org>
Subject: [Histonet] Expiration dates
To: <Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
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       <E913F833B578464EBC3D917DCDB3F715051C25F4 <@t> HSHEXCHANGE.hsh.org>
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Hello all,



My supervisor wanted me to ask everyone who's posting about the
expiration dates of antibodies:  How can you use expired antibodies on a
stainer such as a Benchmark-which will not allow you to start the run
due to expiration dates on the containers?





Thanks!!



Amy Senn

Camp Hill, PA