Sharing Too Much

In this lab we will be sharing "bodily fluids" with our classmates. We will use a process called ELISA to determine if we have been infected with a contagious disease. ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay) is used to detect the presence of a disease agent. When a person is exposed to a "disease agent" their body will react with an immune response. The molecules it uses are called anitgens, within a couple days antibodies ( proteins that recognize the anitgen and bind very tightly) begin circulating in one's body. Anitobodies are made when the body has an immune response.The anitgens are created and then after a period of time the antibodies will begin to specicficallt recognize the anitgen.

The process called ELISA is used for many tests, including pregnancy tests, disease detection, drug testing, testing indoor air quality, and determining if food is labeled correctly. ELISA is used to easily and quickly detect whether patients have been exposed to certain viruses of conditions.

ELISA has four steps:
1. The anitgen is added to the wells of the microplate strip and incubated.
Unbound antigen is washed from the wells with a detergent.

2. Primary anitbody solution is added to the wells and incubated to allow antibody to bind to the antigen.

3. Enzyme- labeled secondary antibody solution is added to the wells.

4. Chromogenic enzyme is added to the wells and incubated to allow color to develope. Then the results are looked at, wells that are colorless are negative and wells that turn blue are positive.