If a cycler from Applied Biosystems is used in combination with the Certal Residual DNA Detection Kit, should dye calibration for MAX be performed?

No, calibration is required if the instrument is already calibrated for VIC (which is normally the case). Simply create a new detector, for example, “MAX/IowaBlack”, and assign VIC as the reporter dye and “none” as the quencher (Table 3, page 17 of the Certal Residual DNA Detection Kit handbook describes the procedure in the footnote). 

MAX spectrum is nearly identical to VIC and the requirement for calibration has been thoroughly tested. There is no risk of crosstalk from the VIC channel to the FAM channel. However, crosstalk may occur from the FAM channel to the VIC channel if the pathogen target is present in very high copy numbers. Although this may slightly change the signal for the Internal Control, if a positive signal is detected in the FAM channel, then the Internal Control signal is no longer required.