BD links
BD BioSciences has a number of ELISPOT-related links, such as:

• ELISPOT reagents and instrumentation, listed on their Canada site
• A BD Pharmingen page, which has a description of the ELISPOT process
• Another BD Pharmingen page, discussion ELISPOT instrumentation and software
• Another description of the ELISPOT process, this time on their USA site
• Something from an old newsletter
• Miscellaneous BD kits and devices, including data management tools, flow cytometry apparatus, cytokine detection kits and a whole slew of assay tools
• An older page featuring an early ELISPOT analyzer.

They also have a whole bunch of PDFs and more general immune function information, but these links should be adequate starting points for locating those.

Immunology directory
BioRes has a listing of immunology organizations and their websites.

New definitions listing
A new (and growing) assortment of cross-referenced immunology term definitions is now available.

I figured it might help a bit if I unpacked the aforementioned FAQ section -- enumerating the entries so as to provide a better idea of their content:

• Assay FAQ
  


• ELISPOT Scanning FAQ
  


• ELISPOT Analyzer FAQ
  


• ELISPOT Plates FAQ
  


• Image Quality FAQ
  


• GLP Compliance FAQ
  

FAQ
Dang. I really haven't had time to update this blog lately, so for now, I'll post another link. This one is to a new Elispot FAQ on the web. Maybe later, I'll discuss some of the sub-categories within the FAQ (focusing on the stuff that's of general use, rather than the items which are specific to that company).

Okay, I don't really have much to say tonight. No time, really... and so I decided to just post the following link to miscellaneous elispot resources.

Spot counting
ELISPOT spot counting can be a mind-numbingly tedious process, especially for large assays. The subjectivity involved can also make the results difficult to reproduce reliably. The use of an ELISPOT analyzer can alleviate all these problems, provided that the computer vision routines involved are of sufficient sophistication.

Cells of the immune system
There are two broad sub-classes of lymphocytes -- B cells and T cells. They all originate in the bone marrow; however, T cells undergo a process of maturation in the thymus gland.

Mature lymphocytes are all small cells with a deeply basophilic nucleus and scanty cytoplasm. B cells give rise to plasma cells which secrete antibodies. As for T cells, some (CD4+) secrete lymphokines which act on other cells involved in the immune response. Others (CD8+, cytotoxic) incude lysis in infected cells.

Immunoglobulins
Immunoglobulins -- these are what we commonly know as antibodies. Their structure and function is understood in detail. These are protein molecules which are capable of combining with antigenic determinants.

Antigenic determinants -- the portions of antigens which react with antibodies or T cell receptors. Also known as epitopes.

Elispot, immunology
This blog is meant to supplement the info on my Elispot page. It allows me to perform updates in a more real-time fashion, and the format lends itself more readily to diary-like thoughts.

I'd specifically like to talk about what it takes to automate the analysis, using an Elispot reader and analyzer. Maybe I'll say more about what's needed to perform these assays in a semi-automated fashion, without sacrificing flexibility.