After reviewing the many replies about gel oozing, I came to pretty much
the same conclusions as you - except that you didn't mention heating the
gels. I cannot offer any suggestions as to how this might work (offers?),
but it was clear that the labs which used a dish washer (which has a high
heat drying process at the end) or the labs which heat treat their plates
(2 hours at 70 degrees C) when gel oozing appears, have no problems - or at
least markedly fewer problems.
It would be interesting to hear if other labs find this works. If you do
heat treat your plates after an oozing incidence, please let me know if it
works. Let me know if it doesn't too, please!!. If I get some responses,
I'll summarise them to the group.
I was very interested to read your theories about the differences between
373 and 377 runs. I'd like to add that several of us notice less oozing
with Long Ranger gel rather than acrylamide. Of particular interest was
your comb theory. One of our researchers realised a few weeks ago, that we
too had been using water to support the wells when removing the comb, and
then later loading the buffer tray with TBE. We now have a squeezy bottle
with TBE instead of water, to hand. Unfortunately (!) we haven't had any
problems for a while, so I cannot say if that is the cause, but this may be
more practical than absorbing the water with a paper towel?!
I wish you luck on your crusade, and hope that you can help to solve the riddle.
Kind Regards,
Andrew Louka
--
Institute of Immunology
The National Hospital
University of Oslo, Norway
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