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Courtesy of Invitrogen

Researchers imaging DNA gels can put away their UV-protective gear. Invitrogen's http://www.invitrogen.com new Safe Imager, a blue LED light transilluminator, is billed as a "complete safety solution" for gel electrophoresis.

The Safe Imager is compatible with a wide range of dyes, including SYBR Green, SYBR Gold, and SYPRO Ruby. When used with Invitrogen's SYBR Safe, a nonmutagenic, nontoxic DNA gel stain, it offers significantly higher cloning efficiency than gels stained with ethidium bromide and viewed with a conventional UV light source because it does not damage DNA, according to Jeff Croissant, a spokesperson for the Carlsbad, Calif., company. Croissant adds that the Safe Imager produces brighter, more uniform illumination than non-LED blue light sources on the market, making its sensitivity comparable to that of UV transilluminators.

The LED light source gives the system a relatively small footprint – 28 × 31 × 7 cm. "So it's...

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