[Histonet] IP stainers

[Scott A. Ely]

Andrea,
We have many of the Vision Biosystems (Bond Max) machines and thery are excellent.

Scott Ely, MD MPH
Section of Hematopathology
Department of Pathology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
New York Presbyterian Hospital
525 E. 68th Street
New York, NY 10021
PH:  212-746-2442

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-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
[histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Andrea
C. Bilger
Sent: Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:46 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Subject: [Histonet] Ventana vs Dako


I ave been reading with interest the mailings about the 2 top IP
stainers.  We have 2 Ventana XT's in our lab.  Have found them very
expensive to operate as everyone else has.  The Pathologists wanted us
to continue with Ventana due to only having one knowlegable IP tech and
wanting consistancy.  You have to have some knowlege of IP's even to
operate the Ventana machines.  Some reps make it sound goof proof but it
isn't.  We have had trouble with consistancy in a couple of detection
kits.  One was stronger and all our stains were too hot.  Adjusted the
stains and the next kit was back to the weaker strength.  Had to adjust
all the stains back again.  What a pain in the ......

Has anyone had any experience with another IP stainer from Vision
Biosystems?  I looked at one at a National Histo convention and it
sounded like a cross between the Dako and the Ventana.  I think it was
more of an open system but used bar codes on the slides.  Antigen
retrieval was done on the stainer. Reagents were supposed to be cheaper
and not proprietary.  It had a feature where you could start a stat
stain after the run was started.  I would be interested to hear anyones
experience with this machine.

Andrea