Microtiter plate



A Microtiter plate or microplate is a flat plate with multiple "wells" used as small test tubes. The microplate has become a standard tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing laboratories. A very common usage is in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A microtiter plate typically has 6, 24, 96, 384 or even 1536 sample wells arranged in a 2:3 rectangular matrix. Some microplates have even been manufactured with 3456 or even 9600 wells. Each well of a microplate typically holds somewhere between a few to a few hundred microliters of liquid.

The earliest microplate was created in 1951 by a Hungarian, Dr. G. Takatsky, who machined 6 rows of 12 "wells" in Lucite. However, common usage of the microplate began in the late 1950s when John Liner in USA had introduced a molded version. By 1990 there were more than 15 companies producing a wide range of microplates with different features. It was estimated that 125 million microplates were used in 2000 alone.

In 1996, the Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) began an initiative to create a standard definition of a microtiter plate. A series of standards was completed in 2003 and published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on behalf of the SBS. The standards governs various characteristics of a microtiter plate including well dimensions (e.g. diameter, spacing and depth) as well as plate properties (e.g. dimensions and rigidity).

A number of companies have developed robots to specifically handle SBS microplates. These robots may be liquid handlers which aspirate or dispense liquid samples from and to these plates, or "plate movers" which transport them between instruments.

Instrument companies have designed plate readers which can detect specific biological, chemical or physical events in samples stored in these plates.