---
title: "ConA Bead Damage in CUT&RUN | Prevention & Troubleshooting"
slug: "cona-beads-damage"
description: "Learn how to prevent ConA bead damage during CUT&RUN and troubleshoot handling issues to improve sample recovery and assay results."
tags: ["cut and tag", "cut and run"]
updated: 2024-09-20T15:01:02Z
published: 2024-09-20T15:01:02Z
canonical: "support.epicypher.com/cona-beads-damage"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.epicypher.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What are signs of ConA bead damage?

Signs of ConA bead damage include beads that are black in color, granular/grainy, or clumpy after mixing. This can happen if ConA beads are frozen.

ConA beads are crucial to CUTANA™ workflows. They should be stored at 4˚C, appear brown in color, and be easily mixed by gentle vortexing or pipetting.

- Do NOT use ConA beads that have been frozen - this damages beads.
- Do NOT use ConA beads that appear black, granular, or clumpy.
- Activated ConA beads should be kept on ice and used within four hours of activation.