Q: Are your Cell Transformation Assay Kits used the same way as a traditional soft agar assay?
A: Our 96-well Cell Transformation Assays are used in a similar manner as the traditional soft agar assay, which measures anchorage independent growth. The main advantages to our kits are that they are more sensitive than the traditional method, they eliminate the manual counting of cells, and the incubation period is reduced to just 6-8 days, compared to 3 weeks with the traditional method. There is also the option to recover transformed cells after incubation to re-culture with our Cell Recovery Compatible assay kits.
Q: Which of your Cell Transformation Assays should I use?
A: The choice of assay kit will depend on your specific research goals. Here are some distinctions:
- #CBA-130 is a Cell Transformation Assay that provides more sensitive results than a traditional soft agar assay in a fraction of the time, while eliminating tedious manual cell counting. Once transformed cells form colonies, they cannot be recovered viably from the agar medium.
- #CBA-135 and #CBA-140 are both cell transformation assays that have all the advantages of #CBA-130, with the added benefit that you can recover viable cells once the assay is complete. These assays are performed in a 96-well format; cell quantitation is done in a colorimetric plate reader with #CBA-135 and a fluorescence plate reader with #CBA-140.
- #CBA-150 is an In Vitro Tumor Sensitivity soft agar colony formation assay and is used for chemosensitivity testing. This assay is performed in a colorimetric 96-well format.
- All assays may be used for multiple experiments; you provide your own plate so you use as much or as little of the kit as you need at once.
Q: Which dye is more sensitive, CyQuant or MTT?
A: CyQuant dye is more sensitive and is able to detect as few as 500 cells. We recommend using the fluorescent detection for researchers who have access to a fluorescent plate reader.
Q: Are these kits compatible with any cell line?
A: Our Cell Transformation Assays are not cell type specific and can be used for any cell line as long as the cells can form colonies in soft agar.
Q: Do I need to use the DMEM provided, or can any media be used with this assay?
A: DMEM is provided in the kit as a convenience, but any media that is compatible with your cell line can be used, as long as it is at a 2X concentration.
FAQs for Specific Cell Transformation Assay Kits: