Electrophoresis relies on a basic process—particles moving in an electric field, more or less. Although known for more than 200 years, this phenomenon still drives fundamental techniques in many laboratories. Despite that long history, this field still revolves around time.

Top 9 Questions You Should Ask When Buying Electrophoresis equipment and gels

Electrophoresis Equipment

1. How many gels, per experiment, can you run at once in a single electrophoresis cell?

2. Can you run handcast and precast gels with the same electrophoresis equipment?

3. Can you blot in the same tank as you run the gels?

Gels

4. How fast can you run a set of gels with optimal performance?

5. How fast can you visualize your proteins in the gel?

6. Do you need any special buffers or sample buffer to run your gel?

7. Does a precast gel give you the same separation as a handcast gel?

Transfer of proteins from the gel to a membrane for Western blotting

8. How fast can you transfer proteins from your gel to a membrane?

9. How efficiently can you transfer your high MW proteins from your gel to a membrane?

Latest Trends in Gel Electrophoresis:

• Biggest challenge in this technology today: time to results—users want their information faster and faster, despite the fact that time to results has dropped dramatically over the past several years. Running nucleic acids on a gel accelerated from 45 minutes to 30 minutes about a decade ago, and then dropped to just 10 minutes. Also, with real-time visualization, users can stop a run as soon as they see the band, leading to results in even less than ten minutes.

• Everyone also wants more accuracy and lower detection limits, all with higher throughput

• Some commercially available buffers for the gels don’t heat up as much as traditional ones do, and that speeds up a separation.

• Even when a platform provides a digital output, users still want to see the bands—the analog version of the data. An experienced researcher might find that the analog information helps, especially with any troubleshooting

• More people are turning to commercially prepared gels because of their longer shelf life, as well as their greater consistency and safety

• Some new technologies increase the use of gel electrophoresis, and nextgeneration sequencing provides a crucial example

Recently Released Gel Electrophoresis products

V3 Western Workflow
• Enables scientists to visualize protein separation, verify protein transfer, and validate blot data via total protein normalization
• Cuts the traditional western blotting process from two days to one day
• Consists of five steps, each enabled by Bio-Rad’s family of blotting instruments and/or products

Bio-Rad
www.bio-rad.com

Eco-Line Electrophoresis
• Modular tank system for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotting
• Includes glass plates with fixed glass spacers
• Features integrated cooling option
• Casting system for one or two gels
• Comes with two-year warranty

Biometra
www.biometra.com

Rapid Formaldehyde-Free RNA Gel Kit
• Works with standard electrophoresis equipment
• May be safely used on an open benchtop
• Does not require extended sample incubation steps or recirculation of running buffer
• Delivers fast, high quality results

AMRESCO
www.amresco-inc.com

Automated Gel Imaging System G:BOX F3
• Features a high-resolution 3.8 million pixel CCD camera
• GeneSys imaging software automatically sets up the optimum lighting and filters
• Also includes unlimited copies of GeneTools image analysis software
• Contains overhead Epi white light

Syngene
www.syngene.com

Gel Electrophoresis product Manufacturers