automated ihc/ish stainers - (Sep/16/2008 )

I would like any opinion good or bad on different immuno stainers for histology. Most likely comparing the Ventana system to the Dako system.
The lab I work at does a small volume at this time, but would like to increase it's volume, so user friendlyness is a must. Any opinion on either system would be greatly appreciated!!

Our lab has the dako autostainer. Its great if you have optimised your antibodies. We usually do 20-30 in a run (it takes a max of 48 slides I think?) Very easy to use once you do the initial training and hard to break. Only problem is that the probe that sucks up stuff is very finicky. Any fibres or dust in tubes will result in clogging of the probe and the machine will think that there is not enough reagent. A problem if you are doing overnight runs. We air dry our tubes upside down, and don't use kim wipes or tissues