University of Sheffield choose the Hidex Sense microplate reader

13 November 2019

The University of Sheffield choose the Hidex Sense microplate reader

The latest adopter of the Hidex Sense multi-mode microplate reader is Dan Bose, a Henry Dale Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. Dan is part of the Sheffield Institute for Nucleonic Acids and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and his research focuses on the role of non-coding RNA’s in the cell and how they regulate gene expression. 

The research in Dan’s department spans a range of disciplines, incorporating different aspects of biochemistry, molecular experimentation, to cell-based assays, and CRISPR gene editing. 

Developing their own assays

Dan’s Group did not have an existing plate-reader, so it was something he was specifically looking for, “requesting the Sense with my Fellowship funding was an important thing for me. Although we had a plate-reader access within the department, these were often being used for longer-term kinetic assays. This meant everyone had a hard time trying to fit in their own assays”. 

“The instrument will be available for people across the whole department to use, and will allow them to develop their own assays in their own research areas.” 

“For my Group, I’m really looking forward to starting to use the FRET-based assays, to start to probe different aspects of RNA structure and how complexes are forming. We also have collaborators with single-molecule FRET groups so this compliments those approaches.”

Liquid scintillation counting capability 

Dan’s Group chose the Hidex Sense Beta Plus model, he said: “The liquid scintillation counting capability of the Beta Plus model was an important thing for our work. We do a lot of assays that this is essential for and this facility wasn’t available within the department - instead, we had a really old scintillation counter with a dot matrix printer on it. This wasn’t ideal so we’re pleased to finally upgrade.” 

Three important factors in choosing the Sense

Dan said, “I chose the Hidex Sense microplate reader because of three important factors...”.

    1. Intuitive software

“The first reason was the software. The Sense software was really intuitive and now that I have less time in the lab, it is vital that the students coming through the department can pick this up quickly and not feel intimidated by it.”

    2. A range of capabilities 

“The range of capabilities that the instrument has; being able to incorporate fluorescence reading abilities with scintillation counting is great and being able to check cell-based assays as well was really important for my research.”

    3. Tiny footprint 

“Finally, the footprint the Sense took up in the lab was another significant factor. I think that to incorporate all of those capabilities within a tiny footprint was really impressive.”

Fantastic service

“The service from LabLogic has been fantastic. One of the nice things about Sheffield is that LabLogic is based here too so we’ve had a lot of contact with Anna. She’s been really helpful with our planning through the acquisition process. The whole process has been really smooth and helpful - it’s been great.”

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