Electrophoresis and Gel Imaging

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  XL blue LED Transilluminator and Large Imaging Enclosure for Smartphone Cameras?
  • KWelshhans

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  J

  Yes, the XL transilluminator does fit inside the imaging enclosure. It is a snug fit, but it works. Unlike the Small, Midi and Large transilluminator, you do have to take the door off in order to take the transilluminator in/out of the enclosure. But if you are planning on keeping it in there most of the time this shouldn't be an issue I would think.
  There is an adapter we ship with the XL version, which is not a frame but a base plate for the transilluminator to sit on.
  I have added the Extra Large XL option to the product page now, so you should be able to select it.

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  transilluminator scratches
  • aboyle

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  A

  That is a good question ! We haven't tried using glass instead of acrylic for our transilluminator. However, you could certainly put your gel onto a small glass plate over the clear acrylic when you are cutting gels to protect the acrylic. You can look for small glass plates online e.g. McMaster-Carr and other stores. We will also have a look at finding some glass plates to recommend with our different transilluminator sizes.
  If you would like a replacement for your scratched clear acrylic surface, we can send you one, no problem, just let us know and we will happily help with that !

• S

  UV diffusion
  • st3in

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  Outstanding! That is pretty close to what I wanted to do.

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  gel electrophoresis of DNA : failed!
  • brentmarble3

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  J

  @brentmarble3

  Hi, I read through your message and I'm wondering whether this is a general question about gel electrophoresis or whether you are having trouble with your electrophoresis equipment. Are you using our IO Rodeo gel box and electrophoresis power supply ? It doesn't seem from your message to be an equipment problem, but more a problem with a new loading dye that you are using ? If that is the case, you might be better off asking the manufacturer of the loading dye whether you should expect to see you DNA sample behave differently in their buffer. I'm sorry I haven't used the GoTaq loading dye.
  I hope that helps. Good luck with your PCR experiments and let us know if you have any specific questions about our electrophoresis equipment.
  Jo

• B

  Nucleid acid stains other than Ethidium bromide?
  • baeza.antonio

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  No one has replied

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  UV LEDs
  • Fiona

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  J

  Hi Fiona,
  We have looked into UV LEDs in the past for ethidium bromide, but unfortunately they are just too expensive.
  I have not tried to do a sensitivity comparison for blue light vs. UV light for viewing ethidium bromide gels. I think that probably using a UV transilluminator will be the best option for ethidium bromide gels. We have made UV transilluminators in the past and have some instructions here: http://public.iorodeo.com/docs/uv_transilluminator/. We no longer sell the kit but maybe you can find something useful from the instructions. Otherwise, maybe you can find a supplier of inexpensive UV transilluminators.
  Sorry we could not be more helpful.
  Best,
  Jo

• E

  White transilluminator
  • esef

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  Hi,

  Yes, I've got a lot of help, so ... thank so much

  As I've seen on the given weblink, the DNAzure stain is sensitive enough, but after the electrophoretic run need the stained gel a strong (and possibly blue ) illumination to make lanes visible ( e.g. with IORodeo blue transilluminator ), so 1 plus for blue illuminator. If I buy a blue transilluminator ( what as I've seen, it is fully optical and size compatible with the IORodeo electrophoresis equipment), cheaper option to buy a UV/blue fluorescent dye and use them together. DNAzure sexy, but a bit more expensive, and needs sg. extra place and money( to buy and store at least a strong blue-rich light source or a blue transillum. to develop a visible lanes). At this time me looks better ( and if I summarize that cheaper) option to buy a blue TI plus blue sensitive GreenView stain.... but if the development of DNA stains keeps so quick, maybe few months later comes something one-step stain, that needs no extra developing process to make lanes visible, and then become the white illuminator better choice ... who knows...

  Thanks again

  SF

• A

  change output voltage by a little bit
  • ak

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  W

  @ak

  That should work. We've made variants which go up to 200V with out any issues.

• D

  Parameters of LED Transilluminator amber filter
  • dmurza

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  J

  Hi,
  We recently posted a blog where we measured the amber filter transmission. Here is the blog post: https://iorodeo.com/blogs/news/measuring-emission-spectra-for-the-blue-led-transilluminator

  Below is a zoomed in version of the %Transmission graph so you can more clearly see transmission in the wavelengths of 400-550 nm.

  The % transmission at 480 nm and 510 nm is about 1%. Transmission doesn't start to increase until around 525 nm approx.

  So, this would probably not work for eGFP unfortunately.

• C

  Power supply for gel electrophoresis australia
  • cherylj

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  J

  Hi, thanks for your questions.
  Yes, that 15V power supply will work with our electrophoresis power kit.
  Yes, we do ship to Australia. We would ship with DHL Worldwide.
  Hope that helps,
  Jo

• T

  Mini gel box-- UK compatible?
  • texas

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  J

  @texas Yes, the mini gel box can be used in the UK. It is just the power supply that must be compatible, as you mentioned. If you already have an electrophoresis power supply that you use then it should work with our mini gel box.

  Just fyi, our electrophoresis power supply kit works with a 15V wall adapter. The one we ship with the kit is this one from Digikey Part # 237-1435-ND. The input range for the 15V wall adapter is 90-260V AC so this will work in the UK. You would need a plug adapter though. You can also choose to supply your own 15V wall adpater with this kit.

  Hope that helps !

• Y

  Mini gel electrophoresis box
  • yogeshkd

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  Y

  This is perfect for what I need. Thanks!

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  Other LED colors?
  • pwt

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  A

  Hi Peter,
  We have made custom versions of the LED transilluminator with different LED wavelengths. We just made one with 400 nm LEDs for example, and we have also made one with green LEDs (523 nm). We are planning to make a white light version shortly for viewing/imaging visibly stained gels.
  As far as the near infra red (700 nm) wavelengths, I don't think we have made this before but it is possible. The trick is finding the right LED. For the transilluminator boards that we use, the LED would need to be a through-hole LED with standard 3 mm or 5 mm LED pin spacing, in the wavelength of your choice and have a viewing angle of 120 degrees or more (for uniform lighting).
  Jo

• T

  Extra large transilluminator
  • TiagoS

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  J

  Hi Tiago. Great, sounds good. We should be able to do this. Could you send me an email at jo@iorodeo.com and we can discuss this further. Thanks !

• C

  Gel Trays
  • Case

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  Gel trays going ot be in stock anytime soon?

• J

  Can the blue led transilluminators be used in Australia?
  • jenny

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  J

  @jenny Yes, the transilluminators can be used in Australia. There is an option to select the correct power supply adapter including an Australian adapter option, so just be sure to select that option.

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  Amber Acrylic Filter
  • fingertips

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  Thanks for the quick response, Jo. I actually got a bit antsy and ordered some transparent amber acrylic from Amazon where one of the reviewers said he used it to filter the light from a 445nm laser. Always glad for other cheap science enthusiasts! I'll be sure to contact you if this acrylic doesn't work out either. I actually don't need much. I had some old military surplus goggles laying around that I decided to convert (like these http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/J-gAAOSwBLlU7qX~/s-l400.jpg) so I only need to cut out two circles about 2.5" in diameter each.

  The site listed as the supplier for the blue filter, acrylite-shop.com, also has transparent amber acrylic. Have you tried that? It could be an alternate to list on your site if people want to buy extra, either for making glasses or an imaging box. I bought some cheap "blue filter" glasses on Amazon that people wear at night to fall asleep easier, but they're also incredibly fluorescent. It would be nice to find a cheap pair of glasses like those that works for this purpose so people could buy those instead of making them or giving Invitrogen $55.

  We currently use the amber filter at an angle while cutting, but it's still in the way. I think it's a great solution to include with the kit, since one piece can be used both ways, which keeps the cost down, but everybody in the lab agrees that it would be better to get it out of the way completely. I do enough gel extraction that I'm willing to put in the time and effort to have something I can wear.

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  UV transparency
  • mh

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  J

  No, the gel tray and tray support section of the gel box are not UV transparent.

  We have in the past made gel trays and the corresponding gel box support from Solacryl which is a "high transmisson" UV transparent material. Solacryl worked really well for viewing gels on our UV-B transilluminator so I would recommend it if you were looking for UV transmissive acrylic. I don't have a datasheet for the material though so I don't have a % transmission at 300-320nm. You could check with the company - Spartech - for a datasheet with % transmission.

• B

  power supply specs
  • belairc

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  W

  Thanks for your question.

  All of the LED transilluminators (Mini, Midi and Large) use a DC power supply with a center positive 2.1mm plug. For the Mini the supply should be be 12V and capable of at least 1A. For the Midi and Large the supply should be 18V and capable of at least 1.33A

  Let me know if you need any more information.

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  Gel tray dimensions
  • Carl

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  J

  Hi Carl,
  Thank you for your question !

  The gel tray dimensions (inner) are 7.0 x 7.0 x 2.5 cm. The tray is made from 1/8" thick (3 mm) clear acrylic and casts a 7 cm x 7 cm mini-gel.

  The 8-well gel comb dimensions are 8.3 x 2.77 cm. The comb is made from 1.6 mm thick Teflon. When the combs are sitting in the gel tray the wells sit approx. 2 mm above the floor of the tray. Well dimensions are 4 mm wide x 1.6 mm thick by 12 mm tall.

  We recently made some minor changes to the gel tray and comb designs. I have attached some images of the new design below. Basically we removed the wings from the tray and shortened the combs to match. We have updated the images on the website today.