An entirely automated 96-well microplate-based system to perform proce
dures for the measurement of protein is described. This single instrum
ent system utilizes a series of computer-controlled mechanical subsyst
ems to move the plate, control incubations and dispense samples or rea
gents in order to perform the assay. This system allows the investigat
or to reproducibly perform these protein assays on large numbers of bi
ological samples with minimal effort.