Revvity's BackSeal, is a specialized white adhesive seal designed for use with 96-well and 384-well microplates. Backseal offers several benefits related to enhancing the performance and accuracy of microplate-based assays, particularly radiometric measurements.
- Signal Enhancement: The white, reflective surface of the tape is applied to the bottom of clear-bottom microplates. In radiometric assays (like those using Cytostar-T scintillating microplates), the white backing tape reflects light (scintillation) generated by the samples back towards the detector. This significantly increases the amount of light captured, making the measurement more sensitive and accurate, which is particularly important when working with very weak signals.
- Reduction of Crosstalk: Crosstalk is an unwanted phenomenon where light from one well "leaks" and is detected by the sensor for a neighboring well, leading to inaccurate readings. The opaque nature of the white backing tape effectively blocks this light, providing a high degree of signal isolation between wells and ensuring that the detected signal originates only from the specific well being measured. This improves the reliability and integrity of experimental data.
- Converting Clear-Bottom Plates: The backing tape can be used to convert a clear-bottom microplate, such as PhenoPlates™ and ViewPlates™, into a functional white-bottom plate. This is useful for researchers who need to perform both top-reading and bottom-reading measurements on the same plate, as it allows them to use a single plate format for multiple applications while adapting it to the specific requirements of each assay.