Technical & Learning Resources

Technical

  • Techniques
  • Radioimmunoassay (RIA)
  • Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA)
  • ELISA stands for Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. This is a group of methods whereby an enzyme is attached to reactant in a system that is used to generate a colour signal with an appropriate chromogen and substrate combination. ELISAs have been developed over the past 30 years and provide the major tools for a very wide range of pure and applied biological investigations. Most methods use plastic microplates where one reactant (antigen or antibody) is passively attached to the plastic solid surface. Subsequent addition of reagents is easy using microtitre pipettes (single and multichannel) and separation of bound and free reactants is made by simple washing steps.  This results in assays of great flexibility. Multichannel spectrophotometers make reading colour rapid, so that a great many samples can be processed and data analysed statistically. This also aids quality control since the development of a colour can be quantified. The sensitivity range for ELISAs is ideal for most serological applications measuring the quantity and quality of antibodies as well as for diagnosis of diseases through detection of the whole or parts of pathogens. The tests are analogous to solid phase radioimmunoassay (RIA). Indirect, sandwich and competitive methods have been widely exploited.

    The technology is so important that the IAEA has, over the past 20 years, sustained its efforts in developing and supplying ELISA systems and training personnel in its use.
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
  • DNA microsatellite analysis
  • Quantification of tannins in tree and shrub foliage
  • Estimation of microbial protein supply in ruminants
  • Technologies
  • Urea Molasses Multinutrient Blocks
  • Artificial insemination (AI) of cattle
  • Selective Breeding and Gene Technologies

Learning