Gelfoo introduction
Traditional gel electrophoresis requires 5 different pieces of equipment: the gel casting tray, running buffer container, power supply, transilluminator, and gel imager system. A variety of open-source or propriety-but-affordable options are independently available already, but as of yet there are no affordable integrated solutions. Let's review some of the existing tools: - [Mupid integrated gelbox + power supply][1] (~$635 MSRP) - [IORodeo Blue Light Transilluminator kit][2] ($102) - [IORodeo UV Transilluminator][3] ($255) - [Pearl Biotech blue light transilluminator][4] ($300 - no longer available) - [Embi Tec PrepOne blue led transilluminator][5] + wifi camera geldoc ($800) - [Bioquimica Neon GelDoc][6] ($???) - [Gheorghe Chistol's DIY geldoc project - Bustamante Lab][7] ($100-$400) - [Invitrogen eGel Go 4-well precast cassette gel + transilluminator system][8]($600) Some very cool stuff! I personally use a mupid-ex gelbox + power supply with a diy transilluminator and gel imager, and ocassionally an eGel Go system for workshops. But what about gel imaging? EmbiTec's $400 PrepOne "geldoc" imager is most affordable I've been able to find, besides Gheorghe Chistol's instructions for building a $100 diy imager. Both make use of affordable consumer point-and-shoot cameras to achieve cost savings. By using a relatively inexpensive HD webcam in place of the point-and-shoot camera, this design could become even more affordable and provide real-time digital imaging of the gel, possibly opening up new applications in data collection or even computer control of the gel. [1]: http://www.gelcompany.com/products/dna-analysis/dna-electrophoresis/mupid/5479-mupid-exu-horizontal-electrophoresis-sys-w-attchd-pwr-supply [2]: http://iorodeo.com/content/blue-led-transilluminator-kit-0 [3]: http://iorodeo.com/content/uv-transilluminator-kit [4]: http://www.pearlbiotech.com/ [5]: http://embitec.com/pi-2100-prepone-sapphire-and-image-catcher-system.html [6]: http://www.bioquimica.cl/catalogo-de-productos/geldoc.html [7]: http://panic.berkeley.edu/~ghe/DIY_LowCostGelDoc/ [8]: http://products.invitrogen.com/ivgn/product/G4400
