Marc Woodland <m.p.woodland at ic.ac.uk> wrote:
>I would love to pour gels for my 377 and leave them for longer
>than 6 hours - like overnight ! According to the bible this is
>not possible for two reasons (1) drying out of the very thin gels
>and (2) hydrolysis of urea to ammonium carbonate. Presumably it
>would be possible to prevent drying out by wrapping the top and
>bottom of the gel in clingfilm. But if the gel is placed in a
>cold room is the rate of urea hydrolysis slowed sufficiently to
>ensure a good gel ? Does anyone have any ideas, comments, or
>experience ? If so please let me know.
When you don't like the way things are, start your own religion. We
routinely pour gels on Friday and use them on Saturday and Sunday. The
key is to wrap both ends with a bit of Saran Wrap so they don't dry out.
We leave them at room temperature. Urea hydrolysis does not seem to be
a problem. All gels are currently made with pre-made mix from either
Amresco or Sooner Scientific.
Happy sequencing,
Rick
