Failure Case Library

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

All Techniques (5) 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)
Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) severe

No Protein Detected: Insufficient Antibody Capture

No target protein is detected in the elution fraction after immunoprecipitation procedure is completed. Western blot or other detection methods show no signal for the target protein.

💡 3 causes ✓ 3 fixes
Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) severe

No Protein Detected: Elution Buffer Inadequacy

Target protein is not detected in elution fraction despite successful capture on beads. Protein may remain bound to beads or antibody after elution attempt.

💡 4 causes ✓ 4 fixes
Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) critical

No Protein Detected: Target Protein Expression Issues

No target protein signal detected in IP eluate. Input lysate may also show weak or absent target protein signal when analyzed separately.

💡 4 causes ✓ 5 fixes
Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) severe

No Protein Detected: Antibody-Bead Binding Failure

No target protein recovered after IP procedure. Antibody may not be properly immobilized on beads, resulting in loss during washing steps.

💡 4 causes ✓ 5 fixes
Immunoprecipitation (No Protein Detected) severe

No Protein Detected: Lysis Buffer Incompatibility

Target protein not detected in IP despite using sufficient antibody and confirmed protein expression. Antibody may fail to recognize target due to protein denaturation or improper folding.

💡 4 causes ✓ 4 fixes