Calprotectin is a protein released in the gut when it is inflamed. Measuring it in a stool sample tells clinicians whether a patient's symptoms are caused by inflammatory bowel disease – Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis – or by irritable bowel syndrome, which looks similar but needs no further invasive testing. A low value rules out inflammation without a colonoscopy; a high value confirms IBD and helps monitor treatment.
Where an application note exists, the assay is validated on that analyzer – the lab can start without in-house validation. Hand the application note to the lab's application specialist; setup usually takes half a day.