Our lab was looking at new gel imagers today. Basically, it's a box that transmits UV light from underneath a gel. The gel separates DNA of different lengths by basically forcing it through a matrix (which is the gel) via electricity - DNA is negatively charged, so it migrates through the gel, away from the negative charge being applied to it. The DNA is then stained with a chemical that shows up under UV light. So you stick it in this box, UV light comes up from underneath the gel, illuminating your DNA, and then there is a camera at the top of the box which takes a photo and transmits it to a computer.
Of course, I was looking at the camera specs. The camera on the imager we use now has a lens that opens up to f1.4. The imager we ended up buying? Opens up to f1.0. I didn't even know that existed. No wonder the setup is costing $7500. Science is fucking expensive.
We also bought a centrifuge today, and are thinking about a nanodrop (it measures the amount of DNA in a one microliter sample). I don't even want to know how much they cost...
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GET THE NANODROP! You'll wonder why you ever put up with the hassle and inaccuracy of UV spec...
ReplyDeleteI know - there's one in a lab upstairs that I use all the time. I talked to Karl for 5 minutes about it and he was pretty much sold. We're just waiting for a quote on it. But considering the lab manager was able to talk the gel imager down from $12,500 to $7500, we've got some money to spend. Plus, it's quarter-end so the reps are dying to make some sales...
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