University of Southern Denmark (dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) intend to purchase a new gel documentation system capable of visualizing both radio labeled and fluorescence labeled biological molecules with the following features:
— The system must be able to detect a wide range of fluorophores, including ethidium bromide, Cy2, Cy3, Cy5, SYBRTM Green and FAMTM.
— The system must be able to detect the following radiolabelled nucleotides: 3H, 14C, 125I, 32P and 35S.
— The system has a dynamic range of detection of five orders of magnitude.
— We require a robust and flexible system suitable for the daily use of many different users with different needs of resolution of gels, therefore, scans ranging from pixel size 10 µm to 1000 µm is fundamental.
— The scanning area must be 40cmx46cm, to meet the needs for flexibility and high through put.
— For the detection of radio labeled molecules storage phosphor screens are used. The new system must reuse/fit existing screens in the hand of purchaser (Molecular Dynamics/Amersham Biosciences Storage Phosphor Screen 20x25 and 35x43) as acquisition of new storage phosphor units will substantially increase the total cost of the purchase.
— The software for the gel documentation system must use the .gel extension format for image files to secure 1) the highest possible dynamic resolution, 2) continuity in data collection and 3) direct comparison of future data with previously collected data.
Based on objective comparisons and to the best of our knowledge, only the Typhoon FLA9500 from GE Healthcare meets the above stated requirements, and we intend to buy this gel documentation system.