Strike Up the Band

Gel Documentation and Analysis Systems

Gel Documentation and Analysis Systems (continued)

Alpha Innotech's FluorChem

His name was Herman. The kindly, silver-haired Estonian immigrant ran the department photography shop. Anybody needing to capture an image of a Coomassie or silver-stained protein gel let Herman work his magic with light box, camera, and developing solutions. He started by asking the researcher to carefully position the gel on his light box. Next, he installed the proper filter and made the necessary f-stop settings on the camera. He then crawled under the camera's black hood to peer thoughtfully at the arrangement. When he was finally satisfied, he swiftly lifted the lens cap away for a second or two, then deftly replaced it with a flick of the hand. In a fluid movement, Herman pulled the film cassette from the camera and vanished into the darkroom. The researcher was left to wait with some old...