The system speeds up electrophoresis by completely eliminating the need to pour gels, prepare buffers, and stain and destain gels after running. Samples are simply loaded either manually with a multichannel pipettor, or robotically with an automated liquid-handling device, and then run for 12 minutes. The gels are packaged in bar-coded, UV-transparent cassettes that contain ethidium bromide and include electrodes embedded within the agarose matrix. The gel's proprietary, neutral-pH buffering system provides a long shelf life and includes all the ions necessary to carry the electrical current, according to product manager Cindy Breed.
E-Gel 96 gels are available with 1% or 2% agarose. Each gel contains 96 sample lanes and eight marker lanes organized in staggered wells, doubling the available run length. "A standard 96-well format would give you about 0.8 cm of run length," explains Breed. "When we stagger the wells, the rows from the lanes above migrate between ...
