Real lab failures, root causes, and fixes — curated and bilingually annotated by our team.
The colorimetric LAMP reaction appears orange instead of pink/magenta prior to incubation at 65°C, indicating premature pH drop that compromises amplification.
The no-template control (NTC) reaction turns yellow after incubation at 65°C, indicating contamination with amplifiable target nucleic acid or positive control template.
The internal control reaction fails to turn yellow after incubation at 65°C when spiked into sample, though it works in water, indicating sample matrix interference.
The internal control reaction fails to turn yellow when added to nucleic acid isolated from non-human sources (e.g., animal tissue, environmental samples), as the control targets human-specific sequences.
The internal control reaction fails to amplify when using RNA samples, while DNA-based controls work normally, indicating RNA-specific quality issues.
The positive control reaction fails to turn yellow following 30-minute incubation at 65°C, indicating no amplification occurred despite presence of target template.
Reactions show inconsistent color change or partial amplification with some replicates failing, caused by reagent stratification or incomplete mixing before incubation.
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