Troubleshooting

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Troubleshooting

Should you have concerns regarding the quality or performance of a product your UK Technical Services team will be very happy to try and help with identifying the possible causes and providing a resolution.

To avoid potential issues with products we would advise ensuring that you are using an appropriate grade of product for your application. Ideally the products that you are using will include testing in your application as part of the specification. Products might also be recommended specifically in protocols, from scientific literature, or colleagues.

When products arrive you should check that the product number is correct and that the product has arrived in good condition. As far as is reasonably possible the product should be checked to ensure it meets the specification. The product should then be stored under the conditions recommended on the label. Please contact us immediately if you do have concerns regarding a product.

Before beginning to work with a new product we would recommend reading the product information, and technical datasheets where available and checking the protocol that you are working with thoroughly. Appropriate controls should be included in all experiments, to aid in the proper evaluation of results.

Where the performance of a product or the results of experiments are not as expected there are several general questions that you might ask in evaluating the situation.

Has the experiment previously been working as expected?
What if anything has changed in the most recent experiment?
If working from a protocol, has the protocol been followed exactly?
Are you working with the correct reagents at the appropriate grade?
Is the observation associated with a particular lot or stock of a reagent?
Have the reagents been prepared and stored appropriately?
Do you have any positive or negative controls, and what do these indicate?
Is your observation repeatable or sporadic?
Has any optimisation been attempted?

To avoid wasting valuable time and reagents we recommend that you should contact us as soon as a problem is identified.

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