Luminescent reporter assays are becoming more common in the laboratory. It is not surprising that there has been an increase in the number of luminometers available for smaller laboratories. The Lucy 2 luminometer from Anthos Labtec Instruments is an example of this type of machine.
The Lucy 2 is designed to record luminescent and absorbance readings from 96-well plates. The unit is fairly large, with a footprint of 34.5 cm x 46.5 cm (w x l) and comes supplied with a dust cover, spare fuses, cables and a CD containing the operating software: ADAP Basic. The luminometer is designed to be controlled remotely by a computer which must be supplied by the customer. The luminometer itself is, therefore, very simple with a single door that hinges up to allow plates to be placed on a holder inside.
The Lucy 2 has been designed for applications such as luminescent reporter assays (including dual assays), colorimetric reporter assays and others, such as ELISAs and nucleic acid quantification. Luminescence can be read over the range of 300 to 500 nm, including flash, glow and fast flash kinetics. Colorimetric assays can be detected from 405 to 690 nm. Optional components are available from Labtec Instruments to boost its use, including liquid dispensers and advanced software for analyzing results.
The software is able to be installed on PCs on Windows® 95 and above operating systems, however, no mention of a Mac version could be found, which may be a drawback in some institutions. The ADAP Basic software allows user administration, kinetic data reduction, data management and storage in a Windows®-based interface. Setting up a test is simple and results can be easily saved as .txt files or copied into applications such as Microsoft® Office Excel for further analysis. Plates can be shaken at three different speeds before being read.
We have been sharing one of these units with another laboratory for two years and during this time it has been used regularly with no downtime except for calibration. The luminometer has proven to be sensitive and simple to use for luminescent and absorbance applications. However, several issues have been noted with the Lucy 2 luminometer. The first is that we have found that this machine detects some crosstalk between wells, which can influence experimental results especially if high intensity wells are located directly adjacent to low intensity wells. If this is an issue, we recommend spacing samples across the plate to prevent crosstalk. The second issue refers to the sticky plastic covers usually paced over the 96-well plates to prevent sample splashback (plates with lids DO NOT fit in the machine). This cover usually has a tag left on one end for easy removal. If this plastic sheet is not pressed down carefully, or applied with the tag on the wrong side of the plate it can cause the plate to become stuck in the machine resulting in the plate access door jamming shut. If this happens, simply use the supplied Alan key to manually open the plate compartment door and remove the plate.
Research Scholar
School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences
The University of Queensland