Failure Case Library

Real lab failures, root causes, and fixes — curated and bilingually annotated by our team.

All Techniques (6) Nucleic Acid Quantification (9) Lipid Transfection (8) End-point PCR Primers (9) Cell Culture (Contamination) (7) PCR (Sigma Guide) (12) Flow Cytometry (Controls) (8) PCR / qPCR Plastics (9) PCR (Invitrogen Guide) (8) Cell Culture (Precipitates) (6) Cell Culture (Cell Death) (8) ELISA (Sigma Guide) (6) PCR / RT-PCR Amplification Problems (5) Flow Cytometry (Paraformaldehyde Fixation) (14) Flow Cytometry (Sample Considerations) (14) ELISA (R&D Guide) (10) Western Blot Immunodetection (19) Flow Cytometry (CST Guide) (8) Immunohistochemistry (CST Guide) (14) Immunoprecipitation (CST Guide) (14) ChIP (CST Guide) (8) ELISA Development (9) Western Blot (Sigma Protocol) (8) IP-Western Blot (6) Western Blot (CST Guide) (8) Flow Cytometry (Fixation Buffers) (7) Flow Cytometry (Isotype Controls) (7) Flow Cytometry (Fixation & Permeabilization) (9) Flow Cytometry (Fc Blocking) (7) Flow Cytometry (Compensation) (7) Flow Cytometry (Autofluorescence) (7) Flow Cytometry (Troubleshooting) (8) Tissue Imaging (Autofluorescence) (9) ELISPOT (8) Immunoprecipitation (Protein Obstruction) (1) Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) (5) Immunoprecipitation (High Background) (8) Immunoprecipitation (High Antibody Elution) (1) Immunohistochemistry (No Staining) (9) Immunohistochemistry (High Background) (9) ChIP (PCR Amplification Problems) (4) ChIP (Low Signal) (8) ChIP (Low Resolution with High Background) (6) ChIP (High Background) (1) Western Blot (Blue Background) (1) Western Blot (Unusual Gel Band Appearance) (3) Western Blot (Unexpected Multiple Bands) (7) Western Blot (Misshapen / Uneven Bands) (5) Western Blot (Bands at Wrong MW) (5) Western Blot (Detection Problems) (7) Western Blot (Weak / No Signal) (6) ELISA (Standard Curve Fit Problems) (6) ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) (6) ELISA (High Background) (8) ELISA (Signal Problems) (11) ELISA (Competitive) (18) Cell-free DNA Extraction (8) Bacterial rRNA Depletion (4) RNA Depletion for RNA-seq (7) LAMP (Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification) (7) HMW DNA Extraction (Monarch) (7) NGS Library Preparation (NEBNext Ultra II) (7) RNA Cleanup (4) DNA Cleanup & Plasmid Purification (7) PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) (26) Restriction Enzyme Digest (13) Western Blot (9) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) (6) Colony Formation Assay (10) Transwell Migration / Invasion Assay (5) qPCR (RT-qPCR) (5) Transfection (8) Plasmid Construction (1) Sanger Sequencing (2) Plasmid Mini-prep (1) Plasmid Construction (Double Digest) (1) Protein Extraction (4) Transfection (Co-transfection) (1) Transfection (siRNA Knockdown) (1) CCK-8 Cell Viability Assay (5) Wound Healing Assay (5)
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) moderate

High CV from Bubbles in Wells

Inconsistent absorbance readings between replicate wells with coefficient of variation >15%. Visual inspection may reveal bubbles present in wells, particularly when using detergent-containing solutions.

💡 4 causes ✓ 4 fixes
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) severe

High CV from Inconsistent Pipetting Technique

High intra-assay coefficient of variation (>15%) between technical replicates. Standard curve shows poor reproducibility between duplicate points.

💡 5 causes ✓ 5 fixes
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) severe

High CV from Plate Edge Effects

Outer (edge) wells show systematically different absorbance values compared to inner wells, with CV >15%. Edge wells may show higher or lower signal depending on evaporation or temperature variation. Visual inspection from the side reveals lower buffer levels in edge wells.

💡 5 causes ✓ 5 fixes
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) severe

High Inter-Assay CV from Inconsistent Sample Storage

High inter-assay coefficient of variation (>15%) when the same samples are tested across different runs. Sample readings decrease over time or vary unpredictably between runs.

💡 5 causes ✓ 5 fixes
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) severe

High CV from Inconsistent Well Washing

High coefficient of variation (>15%) between replicates with uneven background signal across the plate. Some wells show higher background than others after washing steps.

💡 5 causes ✓ 5 fixes
ELISA (Inconsistent Results / High CV) moderate

High CV from Poorly Maintained Plate Reader

High coefficient of variation (>15%) across the plate with no obvious pattern. Signal intensity may drift over time or show unexpected variability between identical samples.

💡 5 causes ✓ 5 fixes