The E-Gel Power Snap Plus Electrophoresis System: A Safe and Efficient Solution for High-Throughput Labs

Gel electrophoresis is a laboratory procedure that is foundational to analyze proteins and nucleic acids. Gel electrophoresis is considered a workhorse of molecular biology research. Despite its workhorse status and significance in life science research, gel electrophoresis largely remained unchanged; it almost always involved a series of steps—preparing gels and buffers, casting gels, loading prepared samples, running the gel, staining and destaining gels, visualizing DNA bands, imaging gels, recording, and analyzing data. This linear process poses numerous challenges, most notably, variability in the quality of prepared gels, the need for dedicated instruments for each step and the associated maintenance of the instruments, and it is time intensive.

The emergence of precast gels on the electrophoresis scene allowed researchers to have consistent gel quality and time savings. The arrival of the SYBR family of stains was another landmark for gel electrophoresis. The SYBR stains were safe and were more sensitive compared to ethidium bromide.

Many other minor gains were made to improve the efficiency of gel electrophoresis, but nothing remarkable. First steps towards streamlining electrophoresis came with the introduction of iBase, that allowed for a real time view of the E-Gel run. The imaging solution was a dedicated adapter for the E-Gel Imager instruments. While it was a first step, it was not a very elegant system, requiring significant up-front investment. A significant breakthrough came with the introduction of the E-Gel Power Snap systems. The E-Gel Power Snap systems combines a gel running platform and an imaging device in a single unit. The gel running platform has an inbuilt blue-light illuminator and amber filter that allows users to monitor DNA band migration in real-time. The blue-light illuminator is safe to the user, and it does not compromise the sample integrity. The Power Snap also has a built in camera and was the only instrument that integrated running and imaging into one machine. This camera is also semi modular and can be used on many base instruments. The E-Gel Power Snap systems boast of a three-step workflow—load, run, and analyze.

The E-Gel Power Snap Plus system is the newest and most sophisticated gel electrophoresis device—a boon to electrophoresis power users. This instrument is loaded with features to capture high-resolution images and to analyze images. The Power Snap Plus is easy-to-use, convenient, and delivers quick results.

The Power Snap Plus System was designed for high-throughput labs that run 25 or more samples at a time. Consolidating two separate tasks into one instrument that simplifies and accelerates the gel electrophoresis workflow.

Power Snap Plus can connect to cloud, internal servers, print directly from the instrument, and perform image editing. Users are able to view the gel using the screen or just glancing through the amber filter. The 8-inch touch screen allows the user to view DNA band migration and interpret results in real-time. The intuitive interface has multiple editing options—result interpretation is a snap!

The integrated design of Power Snap Plus offers:

• Convenience - gel running platform and camera in a single bench-top device
• Easy analysis - analyze results on instrument, or transfer data to desktop, or cloud for analysis
• Safe workflow - non-hazardous gel chemistry
• Fast and efficient - results in as few as 10 minutes; the preprogrammed protocols for each E-Gel and E-PAGE gel allows saves set up time

Precast gels bolster efficiency by eliminating the need to prepare gels and buffers; precast gels designed to function in the absence of buffers.

The precast gels are pre-stained with Invitrogen SYBR Safe Gold II and SYBR Safe DNA stains, which eliminates the need to stain and destain gels. Using precast gels adds reliability and produces consistent results.

One of the biggest disadvantages of pour-your-own gels is the potential contact lab workers could have with hazardous chemicals. Ethidium bromide has been a key ingredient in gels for many years, but it’s harmful if swallowed or inhaled, can irritate the eyes, and is also a known mutagen.

With its small footprint, efficient combination of running and imaging capabilities, the safe consumables, the Power Snap Plus Electrophoresis System offers many advantages to labs that accelerate workflows and increase overall productivity.

Get in-depth information on how the Power Snap Plus Electrophoresis System can support your lab and research.