Adding ELISA Protocols to PipettePilot®

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, or ELISA, are long protocols that require a combination of focus and time management over many hours. The extensive incubation times required mean that many researchers are performing other tasks or experiments at the same time, which can create a stressful lab environment and increase the risk for errors.

However, integrating connected tools into the lab, like Gilson’s TRACKMAN® Connected, can help researchers work through complex experiments, such as ELISA, through additional guidance and automatic tracking. TRACKMAN Connected is a tablet with accessories and apps, including PipettePilot®. This connected solution interacts in real-time via Bluetooth® with PIPETMAN® M Connected pipettes to help researchers with complicated protocols.

By automatically sending the information to the corresponding PIPETMAN M Connected, PipettePilot helps direct researchers, like you, on where, when, and how much you have to pipette, bringing consistency to each sample in your experiment. PipettePilot, along with all of the TRACKMAN Connected tools and accessories, helps improve the reproducibility and traceability of your experiments, no matter how many samples or steps are involved.

The main benefit is the reproducibility and reliability of pipetting to the last well.

-Dr. Jose Vilar

This tutorial, based on this template spreadsheet, will show you how to use TRACKMAN Connected and PipettePilot to create a quick and flexible ELISA protocol. Learn how by following the steps below.

Dr. Jose Vilar and Vincent Duval work in the cardiovascular research lab U970 at European Hospital Georges Pompidou in Paris. This French lab aims to reduce adverse remodeling after cardiovascular disease. They both study the mechanism and develop therapeutics for patients with cardiac disease.

Learn more about their research here.

Step 1: Load Inputs

This template has been created by TRACKMAN® Connected customers, Dr. Jose Vilar and Vincent Duval, at European Hospital Georges Pompidou in Paris. The lab manager and his Ph.D. student developed this template to increase the reliability of their results and accelerate the set-up of the experiment.

In this example, 40 duplicated samples are tested in addition to a standard curve comprised of 8 values. The experiment, in total, has 22 steps and has been created using the PipettePilot protocol.

The first step is importing your sample IDs, well positions, volumes, pipetting parameters, and incubations to a CSV file. To use this template, update the table in the 2nd tab of the spreadsheet, which will update the data in the 3rd tab. After this step, export the generated data in the 3rd tab to a CSV format and load into the PipettePilot app.

Step 2: Import CSV to PipettePilot

Once the protocol is organized into the CSV format, you are ready to import the file into the PipettePilot app.

Export CSV from the 3rd tab of the spreadsheet and Transfer to the Tablet

  • From the spreadsheet page formatted for PipettePilot, save as a CSV file on your computer.
  • *Note: Save these files as a standard CSV format—not a CSV UTF-8 format

  • Transfer the file from your computer to the “Download” directory of your Android™ tablet that you’re using to run the PipettePilot app.

Import CSV into PipettePilot

  • From the main screen of PipettePilot, press Load plan.

  • Tap the import icon in the lower left-hand corner of the load screen.

  • From the import pipetting plan pop-up, select Tablet storage (.csv) and press Import.

  • From the file manager, select the CSV file you want to import. The complete protocol will load into PipettePilot.

Step 3: Execute Your Protocol

You are now ready to execute the protocol using PipettePilot. Working with Gilson’s PIPETMAN® M Connected motorized pipettes, the app will guide you through each task. PipettePilot automatically configures your pipettes and illuminates each well so all you need to do is position the tip and press the button.

PipettePilot allows you to coordinate several experiments at the same time and alerts you when you need to switch between experiments. During long incubation times, you can begin another experiment by clicking on the name of the app. By pressing “Continue Later,” the application will pause your run.

If there is a timer running, it will continue in the background while you run your second experiment.

As soon as the timer is done on your initial experiment, an alert will appear allowing you to switch to the initial experiment.

All of your experiments are saved in the background. You can switch between them by clicking on the name of the app > Continue later > Continue pipetting.

The screen displays the experiments which are currently running.

Once you have completed the protocol, you will receive a detailed report of all transfers and actions. The report and protocol can be exported to an Electronic Lab Notebook, such as SciNote’s cloud-based ELN, for further collaboration.

Your Custom Solution

This tutorial shows one example of how you can create an ELISA protocol for PipettePilot. For more information or to purchase the TRACKMAN® Connected solution, which includes PipettePilot, visit the Gilson Connect home page or contact us directly.

Designing Smarter Tools for More Productive Research

The Gilson Connect platform is designed to track activity at the bench making it more convenient for you to reproduce, report, and share your findings. Through working with the scientific community, we will continue to develop smarter, next-generation devices so you can spend less time on data management and more time focusing on your research.

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