AutoBlot Studio
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Load your blot images

Add images from the left panel, or drop files here.

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Click or drag & drop
PNG · TIFF · JPG · BMP · WEBP

Add an image from the left panel, then use Auto-detect Bands or draw boxes manually.

Background
Text format Click text on figure to select
Include in figure — edit label & MW to customise
Label angle
0°
Condition rows
Shown above blot — type +, − or any label. Press Tab to move between cells.
Live preview — click text to select, Ctrl+click for multi-select Print colours (white bg)
For best results, Phospho, Total, and Housekeeper blots should be from the same gel run with the same lane layout. Band labels and condition columns are derived from the bottom blot row.
Graph type
Appearance
Fill
Opacity
75%
Outline
1.5px
Bar width
60%
Corner radius
4px
Data points
Size · colour
5px
Error bars
Cap width
8px
Axes & labels
Angle 40° Font 11px
Colors
Canvas
Text
Grid
Live preview · click any label to rename
AutoBlot Studio

Take a guided tour of the Image Editor, or jump straight to any step.

The workflow in 60 seconds
AutoBlot Studio works in three steps: load your blot images, detect and label bands, then build a publication figure or run quantification. Everything autosaves as you go.
  1. Load images. Drag & drop your blot images onto the lane list, or click + Add blot. Load each blot type (phospho, total, housekeeper) as a separate lane.
  2. Edit & crop. Use the Image Editor toolbar to rotate, crop, adjust brightness/contrast, and invert. Drag the rotation handle directly on the image to straighten it.
  3. Detect bands. Click Auto-detect to find bands automatically, or use the ROI tool to draw them manually. Rename or delete bands in the panel on the right.
  4. Build your figure. Switch to Figure Builder to compose a publication-ready image with labels, MW markers, and condition rows.
  5. Quantify. Switch to Quantification Suite to see normalised densitometry values and export bar charts.
  6. Export. Use the Export button to download a PNG/TIFF at your chosen DPI. Free accounts get 1 full-resolution export per month.
Autosave & drafts
AutoBlot automatically saves a draft of your work every 3 seconds whenever you make changes. If you close the tab before saving, a Restore draft? banner will appear next time you open a new analysis — or on your dashboard.
Autosave vs. Save
Autosave writes a temporary local draft. Save (top right) permanently stores the analysis to your account so you can access it from any device.
Restore from dashboard
If you have an unsaved draft, a banner appears on your dashboard with the age and lane count. Click Resume to go straight back to it.
Lane types
Phospho
Your target protein of interest — the signal you're measuring.
Total protein
Total form of the same protein, used to normalise the phospho signal.
Housekeeper
Loading control (e.g. β-actin, GAPDH). Used for housekeeper normalisation.
Toolbar tools
Rotate
Click the Rotate tool, then drag left or right on the image to straighten it. Fine adjustments are easy — drag slowly for precision.
Crop
Click Crop, then drag a rectangle on the image. The area outside your selection is discarded. Used to remove background and focus on your bands.
ROI (manual band)
Draw a box around a band manually. Useful when auto-detect misses a faint band or picks up artefacts. Boxes can be renamed or deleted.
Brightness & Contrast
Use the sliders in the right panel to adjust image appearance. These are non-destructive display adjustments — the underlying pixel data is unchanged for quantification.
Invert
Flip black↔white. Useful if you have a fluorescent blot on a dark background that you want to display as a standard dark-band-on-white image.
Flip H / Flip V
Mirror the image horizontally or vertically. Useful if an image was scanned in the wrong orientation.
Auto-detect bands
AutoBlot uses Otsu thresholding to find bands automatically. It works best on high-contrast images with a clean background. After detection, you can rename, delete, or reorder bands using the context menu (right-click on a band).
Getting too many false positives? Lower the sensitivity slider before detecting. Getting missed bands? Increase it, or draw them manually with the ROI tool.
Lane properties
Protein name
Appears as the lane label in your publication figure (e.g. "p-ERK1/2").
Molecular weight
Shown as a kDa marker on the figure. Enter the expected MW for your protein.
Antibody
Catalogue number stored with the analysis for reproducibility records.
Building your figure
Figure Builder assembles all your lanes into a single publication-ready composite image. Add each blot type as a separate lane, then use Figure Builder to arrange them together with shared labels, MW markers, and a title.
  1. Load all your blot images (phospho, total, housekeeper) as lanes in the Image Editor first.
  2. Switch to Figure Builder using the tab at the top.
  3. Set a figure title, condition row labels, and which lanes to include.
  4. Toggle Full crop region if you want to show the entire cropped blot rather than just the auto-detected band region.
  5. Click Export figure to download the image.
Full crop region toggle
Full crop region — when checked, the figure shows the entire cropped blot image for each lane rather than zooming in to the auto-detected band bounding box. Use this when you want to provide more context around your bands, or when bands are at the edge of the crop.
Figure options
Condition rows
Add rows below the blot to label treatment conditions, timepoints, or sample names. Each row can have custom text per lane.
MW markers
Molecular weight labels are drawn automatically from the MW value set in each lane's properties.
Font & size
Adjust label font size in the Figure Builder right panel to match journal requirements.
Background colour
Choose white, black, or transparent background when exporting. Transparent requires PNG format.
Densitometry & normalisation
The Quantification Suite measures the pixel intensity within each band ROI and normalises it according to the method you choose. Normalised values are what you should use for bar charts and statistics.
Housekeeper ratio
Divides each phospho band intensity by the corresponding housekeeper band. The most common normalisation method for western blots.
Total protein
Divides by the total form of the same protein. Used when you're measuring a modification ratio (e.g. phospho/total ERK).
Raw intensity
No normalisation — uses the raw integrated density. Only use this if you have a specific reason not to normalise.
Bar charts & export
The Quantification Suite automatically generates bar charts from your normalised values with error bars. You can export the chart as an image or download the raw values as a CSV for downstream analysis in R, Prism, or Excel.
Tip: ask Blotty "Export band intensities to Stats Suite" to send your data directly — no copy-pasting. Or export the CSV and import it manually.
Export formats & resolution
PNG
Best for most uses. Supports transparent backgrounds. Lossless compression — no quality loss.
JPEG
Smaller file size. No transparency. Suitable for drafts and presentations but not for journal submission.
TIFF Pro
The standard format for journal submissions. Lossless, high bit-depth. Requires a Pro or Lab plan.
PowerPoint Pro
Exports the figure as an editable PowerPoint slide. Requires a Pro or Lab plan.
Free tier exports
Free accounts export at 150 dpi with an AutoBlot Studio watermark. Upgrade to Pro for watermark-free exports at up to 600 dpi.
Pro accounts get unlimited exports at up to 600 dpi, TIFF format, transparent backgrounds, and a publication licence.
Saving to your account
Save (top right) stores your full analysis — images, bands, notes, and settings — to your AutoBlot account. Saved analyses appear on your dashboard and can be opened from any device. Saving is separate from exporting: you can save without exporting, and export without saving.
Autosave drafts
AutoBlot writes a local draft every 3 seconds. If you close the tab before clicking Save, the draft is available to restore next time you open a new analysis.
Analysis notes
The notes field at the bottom of the right panel is saved with your analysis. Use it to record experiment details, antibody dilutions, or any other context.
Blotty
Your wet lab assistant · Powered by AI
Hi! I'm Blotty — your wet lab assistant. Ask me anything about western blotting, antibody troubleshooting, band detection, normalisation, or experimental design. What are you working on?
Blotty makes suggestions, not decisions — verify important calls with your supervisor.