Wet Foam Elution

Revolutionize Sample Preparation with Wet Foam Elution (WFE) for Rapid Recovery and Exponential Concentration of Your Target 

InnovaPrep's proprietary Wet Foam Elution (WFE) technology is redefining particle collection and concentration across diverse sample types. This innovative method ensures rapid, efficient, and highly effective elution of your target particle after particles are captured using our air or liquid filters. Whether in environmental monitoring, food safety, or laboratory research, WFE guarantees maximum recovery, enabling reliable, repeatable, and high-quality results.

Benefits of Using Wet Foam Elution (WFE)

InnovaPrep's WFE technology, integral to our AirPrep and FluidPrep systems, ensures the rapid and highly efficient concentration of microorganisms or target particles from large volumes of liquid or air. The concentrated sample is prepared in minutes, ready for downstream applications, offering superior speed and efficiency over traditional methods such as: 

  • Culture Enrichment 
  • Polymer Precipitation 
  • Ultracentrifugation 
  • Ultrafiltration 

How the Technology Works

WFE employs a standard buffer, a mild surfactant as a foaming agent, and dissolved gas, all contained in quick-release canisters for powerful, yet gentle elution. During elution, a small volume of buffer rapidly expands six-fold into a viscous wet foam that effectively lifts trapped particles from the filter. Within seconds, the foam returns to a liquid state, ready for downstream processing, including culture, molecular, sequencing, or advanced detection methods. This process achieves concentration factors up to 10,000x due to the unique characteristics of the wet foam. 

Why it Works
  • Volume Expansion: Expands to 6x its original volume
  • Increased Viscosity: Prevents channeling and ensures uniform flow
  • Bubble Dynamics: Microbubbles behave as deformable solids, effectively sweeping particles from surfaces
  • Exfoliating Action: Turbulence and energy lift particles adhering to the filter
  • Surfactant Buffer: Breaks particle-surface bonds and enables clean buffer exchange 

Features of Products Using WFE
  • High Recovery Efficiency: Maximizes the retrieval of microorganisms, cells, and particles from AirPrep and FluidPrep filters, enhancing sensitivity in downstream applications.
  • Versatile Application: Compatible with a wide range of targets and matrices, making it suitable for various downstream applications.
  • Rapid Processing: Elutes particles from filters within seconds, accelerating the sample preparation workflow and reducing turnaround times for critical analyses.
  • User-Friendly: Simple procedures allow for quick integration into workflows with minimal training.

Our FluidPrep™ and AirPrep™ Products utilize WFE to dramatically reduce the time-to-result and improve sample recovery.

Optimized Downstream Compatibility

InnovaPrep Elution Buffers are specifically designed for use with AirPrep and FluidPrep products, ensuring optimal Wet Foam Elution performance. The final concentrated sample is immediately suitable for a variety of applications, including:

  • Molecular (PCR, NGS)
  • Culture Enrichment
  • Immunology (Flow cytometry, ELISA, Magnetic beads)
  • Microscopy
  • Biochemistry (ATP, Mass spectrometry)
  • Infectivity Assays (Enveloped viruses)
  • Exosome, Phage, and Cell Isolation & Analysis
     

Buffer Selection for Optimal Results

Selecting the appropriate elution buffer optimizes target integrity and compatibility with downstream applications. Choose your buffer based on your application:

  • PBS-Tween: Ideal for culture-based methods and a variety of downstream analyses.
  • Tris-Tween: Best for rapid molecular analysis.
  • PBS-X: Suitable for viability, infectivity studies, exosome, and cell isolation.
  • DMEM (Tween-free): Optimal for concentrating enveloped viruses