What is ELISA?
ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is a plate-based assay technique designed for detecting and quantifying peptides, proteins, antibodies, and hormones. They are typically performed in 96-well (or 384-well) polystyrene plates, which will passively bind antibodies and proteins. The binding and immobilization of reagents makes ELISAs simple to design and perform. Having the reactants of the ELISA immobilized to the microplate surface enables easy separation of bound from non-bound material during the assay. This ability to wash away non-specifically bound materials makes the ELISA a powerful tool for measuring specific analytes within a crude preparation.