Good gel imaging system?

March 31, 2009 10:06 AM

I'm looking for a good system to take pictures of gels stained with either Ethidium Bromide or Coomassie. Can any one suggest one with good quality and value?

It would be nice if it had an overhead UV light to cut bands out of gels.

posted by sickinthehead to science & nature (5 comments total)

We've got a Kodak Gel Logic 100 system that we use with EtBr gels. It is a few years old and working great. I don't know what they go for new, but it looks like you can get one on eBay for $1300. It does not have an overhead UV light, though. We cut gels on a separate UV light box (also transilluminated) because you can't stick your head into the Kodak system. Make sure you get a good face shield to use while cutting.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 10:50 AM on March 31

I have experience several systems, most recently is this one from UVP. It requires a light box for white light and UV illumination from beneath the gel, but a UV blocking face mask makes that setup safe for cutting out bands. Other options include cabinet systems, UVP's happens to have a little door for your hands to cut the gel, while you watch on the monitor. But when I used a cabinet system we photographed gels in the cabinet and cut bands on a regular table top transluminator.

You'll find several vendors for similar systems. There a lots out there.

Kodak also makes or rebrands some really, really slick set ups that cost an order of magnitude more, but do so, so much more. You can photo restriction reaction gels, visible light staining, and super faint western blots on the same machine. The software it comes with probably accounts for most of the cost.

I don't think I've run across an overhead UV source, as your head and hands would be blocking the light from reaching the gel at all.
posted by Science! at 10:59 AM on March 31

The Kodak one I'm thinking of is not the Gel Logic, but I can't find a link for it.
posted by Science! at 10:59 AM on March 31

BioRad Versadoc here.

Pros: Lots of flexibility (like chemiluminescence.) You can over-ride the UV safety cutout for cutting bands (It comes with a shield.)

Cons: Not cheap.

Personally, if I were in your shoes I'd look at moving away from Ethidium Bromide.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 3:15 PM on March 31

Obviously not suitable for EtBr, but a lab I worked in for a while would put coomassie stained/destained gels on a transparency (maybe sandwiched between two?) directly on a computer scanner and scan instead of photograph.
posted by Sublimity at 12:26 PM on April 1