Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

HI!
I was researching assays, and found them to be quite expensive, going for upwards of 200 apiece! So, I was wondering if I can do my own. I'm trying to find the amount of cortisol, so does anybody know a reagent I can use with it? Thanks.

Hi RedRider3,

This is an excellent topic for a science fair project! It's great that you are planning ahead to consider all of the details such as the cost.
Unfortunately, commercial test kits that can be very expensive, and the cost for a cortisol test kit is high, and some kits require special equipment to obtain results.
One possible way to solve the problem would be to contact a supplier and request a donation or discounted price since you are doing a science project. You would need to explain what your project is about and explain how the results of your experiment would benefit their business. If you decide to do this, do send your request to more than one company and don’t be surprised if you receive a negative response.
Or ask your teacher if there are any research grants that you apply for.
Or, perhaps you could explain to me what you are trying to do and I might be able to think of a different way of doing the project. What research question are you trying to answer? When is your project due? It is definitely possible to do an excellent science project without spending too much money, and I would be happy to help with some ideas that might help you.

Donna Hardy

Hi,

I have finally found a scientific reference for cortisol analysis that should offer some important background information about the topic and about the assay. The authors of the paper were studying the measurement of cortisol in hair samples and they showed that hair analysis results were comparable to serum and urine results. It took some looking to find an article that has free internet access.
Let me know if you don’t have access to the article and I’ll get the details to send to you.
http://www.pgedf.ufpr.br/downloads/Arti ... 5B1%5D.pdf

Here’s a link to information on the kit the authors used in their study. Click on the link to check the detailed protocol, including special equipment needed. The composition of the kit is complicated, so making your own assay is probably outside of the scope of a science project. However, let me know if you want to pursue this and I’ll see if I can find more details.
https://www.alpco.com/store/cortisol-elisa.html

It is likely that you would need access to a lab with an ELISA reader to run a cortisol kit. Let me know if you can borrow one of these readers.

Otherwise, do let me know about your project objective. I think it might be better to consider another approach to solving your project problem, or to change the topic slightly so you can do your project at a reasonable cost.

I hope this helps.

Donna