Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:56 pm by mleipold
Hi Cynthia,
We're in the middle of a large study where the batches are 4 plates of 20 samples, with each plate separately barcoded. Each frozen aliquot is enough for all 80 samples, rather than 80 individual frozen aliquots or even 4 individual frozen aliquots each serving 20. This gives less flexibility for the few batches which have fewer than 80 samples or 4 plates (ie, you're thawing enough for 4x20 regardless), but means you have 1 tube per batch to thaw, rather than 80 or 4.
The group who made the aliquots did make them in 100uL which we then thaw and dilute to 400uL, spin filter, then split 4 x 100uL. So, technically, I guess that means that they're 4x conc.
In this case, I think this was more a logistical thing than anything, since the tubes they used only hold 200-300uL rather than 400uL. In your case, for maximum flexibility (variable sample number), I'm not sure how many tests you would be trying to pack into 1 tube (which would help decide how concentrated you would want to make it to fit into a 200-500uL tube).
Mike