Fluorescent Gel Imagers? Purchasing advice

[PathMan]

Hello all,

I am looking for a good DNA Gel Imager for use in genotyping my various mouse colonies, cloning and a few other techniques as they come up. Basically all I need is a UV light box and a camera, but I have noticed that there is a wide array of imagers available. The top of the line seems to be Alpha Innotech's Red - but at $10k it's a little out of my price range. I am looking to spend about half that but I am curious as to what people are using in their labs right now.

 

What I need:

High rez camera

Light source capable of exciting EtBr-stained DNA bands in agarose and polyacrylamide gels.

Reasonably small footprint

Easily networked or attached/attachable to a computer

Easy to use software that won't drive me nuts or force me to save images in a proprietary format.

Reliable, right price, solid construction, reputable company etc

 

What I would like:

Ability to use for western blots or other gel and membrane types (RNA, protein etc)

ability to print an image with an attached printer/mini printer

any other bells and whistles you guys can think of.

 

thanks all and let me know if you require more information

regards!

KB

[CharonY]

You are not giving a crucial point of info: what stains do you intend to use. EtBr, of course is easy as you just need a decent UV source. But for Western, for instance you have got a wide range of fluorophores and/or enzymatic detection methods that it is not quite possible to give any recommendations, if you do not provide specific excitation/emission ranges. A Typhoon system, could do about everything, for instance, but it would be way over the proposed budget.

[PathMan]

You are not giving a crucial point of info: what stains do you intend to use. EtBr, of course is easy as you just need a decent UV source. But for Western, for instance you have got a wide range of fluorophores and/or enzymatic detection methods that it is not quite possible to give any recommendations, if you do not provide specific excitation/emission ranges. A Typhoon system, could do about everything, for instance, but it would be way over the proposed budget.

 

Hell Charon - thanks for your reply. You're right - I did leave out information regarding my protein blot detection reagents. I suppose I am most concerned with DNA for now as that's what's missing (or soon to be missing) with my failing imaging unit. It was more an after though. I do actually currently have Typhoon which is fantastic for RNA/DNA and even Protein gels - but as I am stuck using EtBr I can't use the machine. I know it CAN read EtBr but the department doesn't want us using ethidium on their $200K investment so it's UV boxes for EtBr. For my particular project I've had less luck with the other DNA stains such as sybr and vistra green.

 

As for protein blots - i usually use ECL+ which GE swears can be detected on their Typhoon. I have not had much luck doing so, so for now i just use film. If you've had luck getting your westerns to work on the typhoon perhaps that's another topic i'd love to pick your brain on - but for now, my primary concern is EtBr-stained DNA. Sorry if that was confusing

[CharonY]

Generally, most people are unhappy to have EtBr on their fluorescence scanners. But with regards to simple EtBr gel scanners the prices tend to start around 5k (e.g. from UVP).

Generally they save the thing in standard picture formats, have densitometry tools integrated (which I almost never used). Most are network enabled or you can use SD-cards to transfer data.

Alternatively you can put the things together yourself. It takes a little bit more time though. The only crucial bit is a good CCD camera, but I have seen stations with rather cheap ones working fairly well. The overall cost may be around 1-2k. But if you do not want to deal with that maybe get the station and ask for rebates.

[PathMan]

funny you mention UVP because I was JUST perusing their site.

What do you think of these two:

 

The BioDoc-It System http://www.uvp.com/biodocit.html

The PhotoDoc-It System: http://www.uvp.com/photodocit.html

 

Those are the two "basic" imager systems that jump out at me, the first one being 5-6k and second around 3.5k (with screen and printer)

[CharonY]

I have used the biodocit a while back. While not stellar, it certainly is sufficient for standard use. You should take care that the system you get is large enough for your gels. At that time i used mini-gels, so it was not an issue, but I think some of the oversized ones would makes some problems.