Thanks to those who responded to my question regarding DNA sequencer.
These are the suggestions/comments I received:
My Original question:
We are in the process of purchasing a capillary DNA sequencer. Right
now we have two ABI 377 and we run an average of one gel each one (a
total of 96 samples). We are not a core facility. We are juggling
between ABI and other competitors. Also we are not sure to go with a
96 capillaries or a 16 capillaries (or between). We have a 373 for
trade in. Any comment or suggestion will be appreciated.
Responses:
1. we have purchased two ABI 3100 and we are very happy with the quality. You
can easily make 4 runs per day in this instrument, but here we do up to 5.
2. I think you'd be best served by the 16 capillary machine (the 3700 is a
machine that likes to be busy all the time and breaks doen often if not
being used at high capacity)- or by sending your templates for sequencing
outside your facility. Sequencing costs are very competitive and it's
often very cost effective to send out templates if you consider the true
costs of equipment, maintenance and personnel.
3. Hi, we are in the process of trading in our 373 for a 3100. The 373 is
our core facility machine. The work load can vary from day to day. We
also have two 377 that are running 4 96 lane gels each day. The 3100
cannot run two 96 well plates in 24hrs at present. ABI is bringing out
new polymer which will make this possible but they have already delayed
its release. You do not say what you want to do with the 377s and if
you want to increase your volume. If you think you would run about 4
plates of 96 a day I would consider the 3700. If you are still a bit
new to capillaries and do not quite need the volume of the 3700 I would
consider a 3100 and keep a 377. The beckman capillary capacity is a bit
low and the chemistry is not as good. The megabase requires a bit more
user interaction when starting the run. Hope this gives you some useful
information. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I have
run all of these machines except the 3100.
4. If through-put is not an issue the ABI 3100 has about the same capacity as a
96 well 377 in 24 hours. But I got to say a lot less work than the gels. We
have the 3100 in house great machine, a few minor glitches with the
capillaries life, But was installed and running the same day.
Alternatively MJ Research has put out the Base Station, an ultra thin gel
based machine doing 96 samples in a little over 3 hours. It loads it self as
well, Gels take about 15 minutes tops to prepare.
The 3700 is a high maintenance machine and you really don't sound as though
you need that sort of capacity.
Incidentally, I would like to invite you to check out our web site as we
have a great dye terminator removal kit called RapXtract. It does not
require modified primers, works well on the 3700, 377, and the 3100. If you
have any questions after checking out the web site don't hesitate to call or
email. We also have collaborated with the MJ Research people on the Base
Station and our product works well on that system as well.
Thanks again
Seyed Hosseini
-- Seyed H. Hosseini, Ph. D. Research Specialist Senior Center for Molecular Medicine School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 Tel 404-727-1353 Fax 404-727-8367 hosseini@gen.emory.edu
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