The ELISA reader is a specialized spectrophotometer—an apparatus for measuring the intensity of light throughout a part of the spectrum—that measures the reactions of antigens and antibodies in a solution through enzyme activity. ELISAs are a popular tool to detect or quantify biological molecules in life science research. They are an essential technique in today’s laboratory with many applications and are often the method of choice to detect analytes for diagnostics, drug discovery or fundamental research.
The automated ELISA reader features an optical system that showers the samples with light and then reads the light’s intensity and wavelength coming off the sample. This permits the reader to calculate the light absorption rate of each sample and converts the returning light beams into data sets so users can interpret the results clearly.