Upgrading old Caralina Electrophoresus for Dye
Posted: 17 May 2016, 16:16
We have had an older DNA electrophoresis kit .It originally cost around $500 . Then we bought a replacement kit at just under $200 .( this contains Another lot of Cut DNA samples , Carbon fibre electrodes , TBA buffer sol"n , stain and the ridiculously expensive Agarose powder .
Twice in the last two years it's been dragged out and teacher ended up with poor or no results .
I had the job of retesting it all and we concluded that the DNA samples must be completely useless due to their age .
The Head teacher said "no way can we spend $200 for a fresh lot of samples and expendables every time a teacher wants to do this Prac".
So We decided to get the Dyes from Southern Biological and give that a go as it only requires an electrolyte of Sodium Bicarbonate instead of the TBA buffer Solution . Also standard agar powder can be used instead of the Agarose .
Dye Electrophoresis is slightly different to DNA Electrophoresis in that the Dyes can have either a positive or negative charge so needs to be positioned in the middle of the Gel unlike DNA which is started at one end .
Alas out trays only had slots at the end to fit the well combs so I had to carefully make slots in the middle to suit the new comb position .This involved cutting a slot with a jeweler's saw to equal length as the original so that the combs set into the Gel the same depth
Another issue with our old trays is that they require a carbon fibre electrode which has to be cut to fit each use and then thrown away.
(Now all these problems could have been avoided if we just shelled out $185 each for new trays with Platinum electrodes built in . )...but that wasn't going to happen .
Twice in the last two years it's been dragged out and teacher ended up with poor or no results .
I had the job of retesting it all and we concluded that the DNA samples must be completely useless due to their age .
The Head teacher said "no way can we spend $200 for a fresh lot of samples and expendables every time a teacher wants to do this Prac".
So We decided to get the Dyes from Southern Biological and give that a go as it only requires an electrolyte of Sodium Bicarbonate instead of the TBA buffer Solution . Also standard agar powder can be used instead of the Agarose .
Dye Electrophoresis is slightly different to DNA Electrophoresis in that the Dyes can have either a positive or negative charge so needs to be positioned in the middle of the Gel unlike DNA which is started at one end .
Alas out trays only had slots at the end to fit the well combs so I had to carefully make slots in the middle to suit the new comb position .This involved cutting a slot with a jeweler's saw to equal length as the original so that the combs set into the Gel the same depth
Another issue with our old trays is that they require a carbon fibre electrode which has to be cut to fit each use and then thrown away.
(Now all these problems could have been avoided if we just shelled out $185 each for new trays with Platinum electrodes built in . )...but that wasn't going to happen .