Hello...I've done some shopping around...I've included prices, catalog
numbers and a summary at the bottom of
this reply...
What we've been doing is running the sequencing reactions on a low
profile pcr plate ordered from PGC
Scientifics. I've also tried similar plates ordered from ISC
Bioexpress, and they work fine, too. Although I
haven't had a chance to demo the Tetrad yet, we do have a single station
MJ thermal cycler in our collection, and
these plates work fine with that instrument. I am assuming the lids on
the Tetrad are adjustable...For sealing
the reactions, I've tried several different options as well. Since the
lid on the single MJ is adjustable, I have
been able to try sealing mats (2 kinds) as well as sealing tape for
PCR. The sealing mats are good for 5 uses
(of course, they must be cleaned between uses), and the two sources for
those mats are ISC Bioexpress and
Corning. The sealing tape I have tried is from PGC Scientific, called
ThermalSeal (sterile) and is very easy to
use and is also tied for least expensive.
During the purification of the sample over an Edge Biosystems spin
purification block, we spin directly into a
3700 compatible plate ordered from ISC Bioexpress, and then dry down and
resuspend in the injection
solution (in our case, water) on that plate. When we were still using
the MicroAmp plates from Perkin-Elmer,
we had to spin into an intermediate NUNC plate and then transfer the
purified sample into the MicroAmp
plates for injection on the 3700. Our method is easier and cheaper.
I know ABI recommends their own plates for use on the 3700 instrument
itself, but I wasn't aware that they
also recommended their own plates for cycling the reactions...I can't
see how that could make a difference as
far as the data quality from the instrument. As far as the fit of the
3700 compatible plate onto the 3700, it does
"snap" or "pop" into place into the plate holder on the deck of the
instrument. This could cause a little
splashing of the sample, but that can be minimized by snapping the plate
into place while the adapter is sitting
on a solid surface...
I think Marsh also has a plate that I haven't tried yet, and also think
the prices are competitive with ISC.
We love our 3700 and we are running about the same number of plates
per week as you are...I hope some of
this information helps you!
PCR plates:
PGC Scientifics cat. no. 59-582: approx. price 100plates/$250 = $2.50
per use
ISC Bioexpress cat. no. T-3031-21: approx. price 50 plates/$140 = $2.80
per use
Corning cat no. 6551: approx. price 25 plates/$120 = $4.80 per use
Sealing:
Sealing Mat ISC Bioexpress cat. no. T3161-1: approx. price 5
mats/$36.00 with 5 uses = $1.44/use
Sealing Mat Corning cat. no. 6555: approx. price 25mats/$75 with 5 uses
= $0.60/use
ThermalSeal tape PGC Scientifics cat. no. 58-138: approx. price
100tapes/$61 = $0.61/use
(our old method was to use strip caps and strip tubes from Stratagene,
with approx. price of $14.00 per plate
for tubes and caps!!! Granted, these are very expensive tubes...)
Purification/Loading plate:
MicroAmp from Perkin-Elmer cat. no. N801-0560: approx price
10plates/$40.70 = $4.07/use *PLUS
*intermediate step of NUNC plate cat. no. 442587, 60 plates/$84.00 =
$1.76/plate = total of $5.83/use
ISC Bioexpress cat. no. T-3060-1: 10 plates/$39.00 = $3.90/use
Aluminum Sealing tapes (foil piercing):
Marsh cat. no. XZB-0626 (I think this is a roll good for 100 plates)
$89.99
Corning cat. no. 6570 (Precut for plates...we use this) 100/$48.00
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