Purification Process For some researchers, isolating and purifying DNA is a housekeeping task: a routine but necessary part of most experiments, and one often taken for granted-until, of course, a restriction enzyme fails to cut a plasmid or a PCR reaction fizzles. For others, including contributors to the Human Genome Project, DNA purification represents an important, rate-limiting step in a lengthy quest for information. Yet wherever scientists' interests lie along this spectrum and whatever the source of the DNA they're isolating, odds are that newly developed kits, devices, or technologies have streamlined their work in recent years.
FILTER UNIT: Spin columns with Millipore's Ultrafree-MC use a cellulose ultrafiltration membrane. A proliferation of miniprep kits, designed for the rapid purification of small amounts of plasmid or viral DNA, exemplifies the increased demand for such products. David Mead, chemical research and development manager at Bio-Rad Laboratories in Hercules, Calif., estimates that scientists ...
