Editing Plate reader (section)

==Instruments and assays==
Many of the detection modes (absorbance, fluorescence intensity, luminescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization) are available stand-alone in dedicated plate readers, but are very often found today combined into one instrument (multi-mode plate reader). There are also instruments for measuring the dynamic or static light scattered from samples in a microplate. The range of applications for multi-mode plate readers is extremely large. Some of the most common assays are:
*[[ELISA]]s
*Protein and [[cell growth]] assays
*[[Protein–protein interaction]]
*[[Reporter gene|Reporter]] assays
*[[Nucleic acid quantitation]]
*Molecular interactions
*Enzyme activity
*Cell toxicity, proliferation, and viability
*[[ATP test|ATP quantification]]
*[[Immunoassays]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ashour |first1=Mohamed-Bassem A. |last2=Gee |first2=Shirley J. |last3=Hammock |first3=Bruce D. |title=Use of a 96-well microplate reader for measuring routine enzyme activities |journal=Analytical Biochemistry |date=November 1987 |volume=166 |issue=2 |pages=353–360 |doi=10.1016/0003-2697(87)90585-9 |pmid=3434778 }}</ref>
*[[High throughput screening]] of compounds and targets in drug discovery (Labeled Alpha Screen on most instruments)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bmglabtech.com/en/alphascreen/ | title=AlphaScreen &#124; BMG LABTECH }}</ref>
*Bead-based [[epitope]] assay<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Suprun |first1=Maria |last2=Getts |first2=Robert |last3=Raghunathan |first3=Rohit |last4=Grishina |first4=Galina |last5=Witmer |first5=Marc |last6=Gimenez |first6=Gustavo |last7=Sampson |first7=Hugh A. |last8=Suárez-Fariñas |first8=Mayte |title=Novel Bead-Based Epitope Assay is a sensitive and reliable tool for profiling epitope-specific antibody repertoire in food allergy |journal=Scientific Reports |date=5 December 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=18425 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-54868-7 |pmid=31804555 |pmc=6895130 |bibcode=2019NatSR...918425S }}</ref>
*Cellular Uptake of [[nanoparticle]]s<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/s41598-022-24480-3 | title=Quantifying fluorescent nanoparticle uptake in mammalian cells using a plate reader | year=2022 | last1=Shin | first1=Hye Ji | last2=Kwak | first2=Minjeong | last3=Joo | first3=Sihwa | last4=Lee | first4=Ji Youn | journal=Scientific Reports | volume=12 | issue=1 | page=20146 | pmid=36418509 | pmc=9684140 | bibcode=2022NatSR..1220146S }}</ref>

While "plate reader" usually refers to the devices described above, many variations are available. Some examples of other devices working with the microplate format are:
* [[ELISPOT]] plate readers, used to count the colored spots that are formed in the course of ELISPOT assays.
* High throughput imagers that can measure all the wells of a microplate at once
* [[High-content screening]] (HCS) systems that image each well with high resolution, to look at cell populations
* Label-free instruments that use specialized microplates to measure binding events without the use of chemical markers