FAQs

Eve Technologies Corporation is an assay service company that specializes in bead based multiplex assays. We aim to be the most economical option for running assays on the analytes that are commercially available on the multiplex bead platform. Company Profile.

Utilizing Eve Tech’s services has many benefits for researchers and biotech companies. First, Eve Tech specializes in multiplexing assays which has numerous benefits over traditional immunoassays. Second, by outsourcing your assays to Eve Tech you reduce costs and labor and thus get more out of your budget. We pride ourselves in serving the biomedical community and aim to provide the highest quality assay services at unbeatable prices. Third, you can also benefit from our experience with over 11 years of multiplexing work.

When discussing the benefits of bead-based multiplexing technology (also known as addressable laser bead immunoassay, ALBIA) many will compare it to their current method. The ELISA platform, being the most common, is a great technology that is well accepted across the biomedical field.  However, with many research projects requiring data from multiple targets, ELISA becomes an inefficient, cost prohibitive assay platform.  ALBIA allows the user to test for up to 100 targets in a single assay well. This means that much less sample is required, there is less concern about variability between aliquots, costs are significantly reduced and it takes a fraction of the time. For example: One well of Eve Tech’s human 42-plex Discovery Assay generates results on 42 different markers. In order to obtain similar data using ELISA, 42 separate assay kits would be required.

Yes. If we cannot find you a suitable multiplex assay, ELISA is available upon request of the client. All of our ELISA assays are run using a Janus automated workstation (Perkin Elmer).

The most common assay for Eve Tech to perform would be profiling for cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. The following is a list of all our assay categories:

• • • Acute Phase Proteins
    • Adipokine and Adipocyte Biomarker
    • Allergy Testing
    • Angiogenesis Biomarker
    • Apoptosis
    • Autoimmune/Immunology
    • Bone Metabolism
    • Cancer Profiling
    • Cardiovascular Disease
    • Cellular Signaling
    • Cytokines, Chemokines and Growth Factors
    • Diabetes and Obesity Biomarkers
    • Endocrine
    • Gut Hormone
    • Human Reproductive Hormones
    • Isotyping
    • Metabolic Markers
    • Matrix Metallo-Proteinases
    • Neuroscience
    • Skin Biomarkers
    • Toxicity
    • Transcription Factors

For our complete analyte listing: Analytes Available

Human, Mouse, Rat, Porcine, Canine and Feline. Contact us if you are interested in testing species that are not on this list.

Many assays require 25ul per well so we ask for 50ul per well to facilitate our robotics operations. However, some kits do require a dilution and therefore require less sample volume. For custom-plex assay sample volumes, contact us for the specific volume requirements. Discovery Assays typically require 50ul of sample per single testing (Human 65-plex requires 100ul).

We buy the kits and our pricing/quotes already have the kit price included. Eve Tech has made inroads with several kit suppliers by which we can secure discounts on our orders. Those savings are passed on to our clients.

We typically recommend duplicate testing; however the answer to this question will depend on the purpose of your assay. For publication purposes, duplicate and triplicate testing are the most common. Testing in duplicate or triplicate gives you more assurance that your concentrations are accurate. If, however, you are merely running small pilot studies, testing in single may be suitable and may be more cost effective.

Discovery Assays are a defined set of cytokine panels that we keep in stock and uniquely offer clients the ability to purchase individual wells at extremely affordable prices. Custom-Plex Assays are kits that are specially ordered for clients based on their selection of targets. Custom-Plex Assays are purchased and priced by the kit (one 96 well plate) and therefore it is the most economical to fully use an entire 96 well plate. Eve Tech’s pricing always includes the kits and the assay services.

No. This is one of the greatest attributes of the Discovery Assay as we will accommodate one sample or thousands. Custom-Plex Assays also do not have sample limitations; however it is the most economical to fully use entire 96-well plates. Fully using a 96-well plate typically means increments of 40 samples tested in duplicate (80 wells). 16 wells are typically used for the standard curve.

You should choose a Discovery Assay (perhaps a Featured Discovery Assay) that matches the species of your sample. A Custom-Plex Assay will likely be too expensive because it requires the custom order of an entire 96-well plate.

Credit card or purchase order number. If your institute does not have either of these payment methods, prepayment or purchase contract is required.

Yes, however, because we are a fee-for-service, we rarely know the extent to which the data generated from our services is being published. Link to Select Publications.

It is possible; however it may not be feasible. It depends on the desired analyte and Discovery Assay.

No, it is not possible to remove analytes or select certain analytes in a Discovery Assay because the panels are premixed. If you have certain analytes you want to target within a Discovery Assay panel, and if you have a good number of samples (ie 30 or more to run in duplicate), it may be more feasible for you to run a Custom-Plex Assay Service where you can specifically select your targets.

No. Though we often run Discovery Assays at a profit loss, we will always strive to continue offering the heavily discounted price. We like supporting your research and regular pricing could show you what it would cost to do the same assay in-house or elsewhere.

Prices are for one single well assay. Duplicate or triplicate testing will require purchasing 2 or 3 wells per sample.

The included standard is a standard that is run on the first assay session of the current kit lot. This standard curve is run with an assay buffer matrix.

If the purpose of running your samples on a Discovery Assay does require running your own internal standard, your results are quantified using the values obtained from the standard run during the first assay session of that kit lot. This is called an external standard. All assay conditions are controlled as much as possible among assay sessions using the same kit lot.

In addition to maintaining strict and repeatable conditions, we run quality control samples with every assay run to ensure that all assay signals of a particular lot fall within an acceptable range. Inter-assay variability ranges between 5-20% depending on the analyte and quality of samples.

You should buy your own standard curve when exact concentrations are of utmost importance. Some examples: if you are running a large Discovery Assay study that spans multiple plates or if you are performing a longitudinal study where you will be directly comparing concentration values across multiple assay sessions.

All samples on the human cytokine Discovery Assays are run undiluted. Serum and plasma samples are diluted 1/2 on the mouse cytokine Discovery Assay and 1/5 on the rat cytokine Discovery Assay. Once the data is collected, a dilution factor is applied by Eve Tech to the diluted samples’ concentration values. If you would like to request a specific dilution please clearly indicate this on your order form and Contact Us.

It would be impossible to have a fixed low-cost per sample price if a standard was run in every assay session. If a standard curve was generated at every assay session the price would be prohibitive for clients who do not require the use of a full 96-well plate. Clients who wish to have an internal standard curve have the option to purchase the standard cocktail and the additional wells to run their own standard curve. Eve Tech does run an internal control sample with every assay session as a quality control.

Here is a link to the Sample preparation guide. The guide covers preparation for serum, plasma, cell culture supernatant, tissue homogenate and cell lysate. For preparation information on other sample types such as CSF, BAL fluid, urine or sputum please Contact us.

It makes the assay run much more efficiently and accurately. The beads used in the assay are about 5um in diameter; many particulates can be of the same size and thus interfere with the signal acquisition. Not all samples need to be filtered, it is only required for samples with a high amount of particulate such as tissue homogenate and some serum or plasma. Sample preparation guide.

The tubes and labeling documents outline all of our tube specifications.
Tube requirements for Discovery Assay
Tube requirements for Custom Assay
0.6mL snap-cap microcentrifuge tubes .

The tubes and labeling documents outline all of our labeling specifications:

Alpha numeric, i.e. S1 – S20; S = first letter of your last name.

Tube requirements for Discovery Assay
Tube requirements for Custom Assay

Contact us for any additional information on the analytes, including alternate names. The following are some analytes that we get the most questions about:
VEGF: VEGFa
GRO: GROpan
IL-17: IL-17A (unless the “E” or “F” isoform is specified)
Eotaxin Eotaxin-1

• Heparin. Should not exceed 10 IU per mL of sample. It can cause bead agglutination and increased signals.
• DMSO and other similar organic solvents. May cause the leaching of dye from the beads making sample analyte levels undetectable.
• SDS and other similar denaturing agents. Should not exceed 0.1% in sample. These reagents can cause improper capturing of analytes.

Yes and No. The answer to this question is dependent upon many factors. The main questions to ask are: How long have the samples been at room temperature? How difficult is it to collect new samples? What analytes are you assaying? Is the data for a publication or a preliminary experiment? Please be advised that inflammatory analytes are known to degrade easier. Also, mouse and rat blood based samples tend to degrade faster than human samples at room temp because they have higher protease levels.

Many assays have sensitivities of about 0.1pg/mL-30pg/mL with most of them in the 0.1pg/mL-1pg/mL range. Click on the assay title under the Discovery Assay tab for the sensitivity of our most popular Cytokine, Chemokine, and Growth Factor targets. For other sensitivity information, please Contact Us.

Many assays have a standard curve range of 0.64pg/mL-10,000pg/mL. For specific information on your assay, please Contact Us.

Category A infectious substances – No.
Category B infectious substances – We may conduct services on category B infectious substances for additional set-up and decontamination fees; however, the service proposal is evaluated for safety and the decision is made on a case by case basis. If we cannot directly handle category B infectious samples we can arrange for you to run the assay portion that requires sample handling then you simply ship the plate back to us. ie) HIV studies. Please consult our guide: ‘How to Classify Biological Samples’ for more information on classifying your biological specimens.

Typically 80 samples in single or 40 samples in duplicate. Each plate has 96 wells, 16 of those wells are used for standards.

No you do not. If you are planning on using one assay plate multiple times you will be charged a nominal fee for the service. Also, another element to consider is that each Custom-Plex order comes with a single one-time-use standard; you may want to purchase an extra standard for an additional assay session.

The technology’s maximum is 100 analytes, however in proteomics this maximum is a challenge due to analyte interactions and different buffer preferences. The highest plexed kits available in the industry contain about 40-50 analytes. Our cytokine Discovery Assays are some of the highest plex kits available.

No. Many analytes are able to be combined but some cannot be due to dilutions, sample activations and cross reactivity. It is common for a Custom-Plex project to require kits from more than one panel.

New analytes become available all of the time. Contact us to see if your analyte is now available.

Shipping samples to Eve Tech is made easy through following our shipping guides:

Shipping of Biological Samples – Intra Canada and International 

Strictly following the appropriate Shipping guide is the best way to ensure your samples arrive in good order.