ghost bands

Noun

ghost band (plural ghost bands)

1. Any spurious results clustered together, outside of normal expected ranges (as in a plot of recorded energy values, with an inexplicable blot, marring the clean expected results).
2. A large band or stripe that appears on a developed gel as a wide halo with no specific, distinguishable signal.
   • Ghost bands are a common problem in western blot analysis.
3. Impersonators of a well-known musical band hired to perform while the real band members are elsewhere.