The Cytokine Reference Laboratory is a CLIA-88 licensed facility specializing in the analysis of cytokines, chemokines, growth factors and other soluble mediators from a variety of biological sources from humans and many other animal species.
The Cytokine Reference Laboratory (CRL) has over 30 years of experience participating as a testing laboratory for a variety of clinical trials and research projects. It is highly experienced with immunoassays using ELISA (both conventional and multiplex), microfluidic (Ella platform) and fluorescence bead-based antibody systems (Luminex platform) that allow multiple assays to be performed on a very small amount of material. The CRL has flexibility for customization of testing from as few as 1 and up to 1000s of samples per project. A new single cell system is also offered for real-time functional secretome profiling (IsoLight platform).
The director of the laboratory is Dr. Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine. She is board-certified by the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology.
Cytokine Reference Laboratory Equipment
Agilent BioTek Synergy LX
Synergy/LX (BioTek) multi-mode reader for fluorescence and chemiluminescence immunoassays
The Agilent BioTek Synergy LX multimode reader automates microplate assays including UV-VIS absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence detection.
Assist Plus Pipetting Robot
ASSIST PLUS Pipetting Robot from INTEGRA Biosciences
The assist plus pipetting robot uses electronic pipettes to increase throughput, automate repetitive tasks and provide reproducibility.
Automated Cellular Proteomics Hub
The IsoLight is a hub for functional profiling of each cell type across a large assay menu of single-cell chip and software products. Run an entire highly-multiplexed proteomics workflow. Please see FAQ for more information.
BioTek ELx50
Two BioTek Elx50 automated plate washers
The ELx50 automated plate washer can be used for washing 96-well magnetic or polystyrene bead assays, such as those developed on the Luminex platform. The washer’s modular platform allows for processing standard solid bottom plates used in many traditional ELISAs and cell based assays.
Ella
Two Ella (Protein Simple) microfluidic, automated multiplex immunoassay machines on dedicated computers
Ella is a small machine for automated sandwich ELISA assays that utilizes microfluidics and analyte-specific antibody coated Glass Nano Reactors (GNRs) in specialized cartridges. The Ella uses pneumatics and micro-valves to pump sample over three GNRs in series for each analyte. Customized panels are available. More Information
Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer with Gen5 3.10 software
Agilent BioTek Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer
The Agilent BioTek Epoch microplate spectrophotometer has monochromator-based optics, for a filter-free, wide wavelength range for UV-Vis absorbance measurements.
Luminex 200 Instrument System
Luminex 200 system with sheath fluid delivery system with BioPlex Manager 6.0 software on a dedicated computer
The Luminex 200 Instrument System is a multiplexing platform capable of performing qualitative and quantitative analysis up to 48 different analytes in a single reaction volume on a flow cytometry-based platform.
Magpix System
MAGPIX powered by Luminex XMAP Technology with xPonent software on a dedicated computer.
The Magpix is a versatile multiplexing platform capable of performing qualitative and quantitative analysis of proteins and nucleic acids in a variety of sample matrices.
MultiFlo FX
MultiFlo FX is an automated multi-mode reagent dispenser for 6- to 1536-well microplates. The system incorporates several technologies in its modular design, such as Parallel Dispense, random access dispense (RAD) and Automated Media Exchange (AMX) modules.
Nuaire Class II, Type A2 Biological Safety Cabinet
NuAire Class II, Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets (BSC) offer personnel, product, and environmental protection to obtain product quality while reducing the potential for exposure of both product and personnel to airborne biological or particulate chemical agents in low to moderate risk-hazard research and drug preparation or product operations.
xMAP® INTELLIFLEX
The xMAP® INTELLIFLEX is a versatile flow-based multiplexing platform.
- Multiplexing: Up to 500 analytes in a single sample volume
- Broad Dynamic Range >5.5 logs reducing repeats due to out-of-range values
- Read Time: 96-well plate in <20 min; 384-well plate in <75 min
General Equipment
- Certified Sanyo -80 freezer (monitored 24/7)
- Certified +4 refrigerator (monitored 24/7)
- +4 / -20 refrigerator / freezer
- Universal 32R centrifuge
- Fisher Scientific Incubater
- Orbital plate shaker
Mailing Address
Pediatrics BMT
MMC 391 Mayo
8366A (Campus Delivery Code)
420 Delaware St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455