The Test Results Are...: Using ELISA to Investigate Diseases

Introduction
a. Background- This lab simulates what happens when bodily fluids are shared and how ELISA is used to determine if you have been exposed to a disease. ELISA uses antibodeis to detect the precense of an intigen in the body and track it back to its source. In ELISA, antibodies bind to wells in a gel and antibodies are added and attatch to their corresponding antigens and then when a substrate is added, the wells will change colors and determine if the individual has a disease.
b. Purpose- The purpose of this lab is to show how ELISA works and how it could be applied to real life situations. ELISA is the scientific process that is used in tests that determine if someone has a disease or if a woman is pregnant. It has also been used in testing for drug use and testing air quality. The test is useful because it gives a distinct positive or negative result.
c. Procedure- On Day 1, we will transfer bodily fluids that we shared with another individual into test tubes and mix the samples. On Day 2, we will pipet the samples into a 12-well strip  with weals designated for positive and negative controls. We will transfer 50 microliters into each well and then wait until the proteins in the sample bind to the bottoms of the wells. After we will tip the strip upside down and fill each well with wash buffer. Then we will transfer primary antibody into the wells and wait for the antibodies to bind to their targets. We will again wash the strip twice. Then we will add secondary antibodies into the wells and then wait for them to bind to their targets. Then yo will wash the wells again three times. AFte we will transfer enzyme substrate into the wells and after waiting five minutes, we will record the results as some of the wells will change colros. Finally, we will clean up.
d. Hypothesis- I hypothosize that at least one of the members at our lab table will have the diseas4e.