Hi all,

In the recent past, I've heard several people mention using Ventana
autostainers.  We are currently in the market for an autostainer and are
looking for any info or experiences - good or bad - that people have had
with different manufacturers.  I am especially curious about any
comparisons between the Biogenex Optimax and the Ventana models (both
the ES and NexES), but I'm also interested in any experience with the
Zymed ST5050 or CytoLogix Artisan.

Will any of these automate routine H&E's, Massons, as well as IHC?  One
big reason for this is that, since we have many students doing their own
IHC staining, we sometimes have inconsistent staining between people and
runs.  We're hoping that an autostainer may remedy that problem.  We're
a research lab, so programming and protocol flexibility will be
important.

Thanks,

Brandon Schanbacher

--
Division of Pharmacology
Ohio State University