HRM - High Resolution Melt

Next-generation dsDNA intercalation dyes such as LCGreen™ have created new opportunities for high-resolution melt (HRM) analysis. When properly used, they offer unprecedented performance for analyzing DNA association (annealing), dissociation (melting) and heteroduplex formation. To benefit from these new dyes, an instrument must incorporate high-intensity optics, high-speed data capture, precise temperature control and exhibit extreme temperature resolution. The Rotor-Gene 6000 does, making it the first instrument system capable of both thermal cycling and HRM. HRM characterizes samples based on sequence length, GC content and complementarity. Genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is a typical application (see below)that saves on probe and label costs over other methods.

Concentration Analysis
The Rotor-Gene is fully equipped to do DNA concentration measurement using fluorescent dyes (see below). Comprising a standard run protocol and integrated analysis software, the concentration of unknown samples is easily determined from a standard curve.

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Rotor-Gene™ 6000 / HRM™

The Real-time Revolution

Rotor-Gene 6000 is the first of its kind - a new generation of real-time analyzer with performance so advanced it unlocks new research possibilities.

Already fully equipped for real-time amplification, end-point analysis, high-resolution melt analysis, and nucleic acid concentration measurement, this is only the beginning. Uniquely flexible hardware and software let you explore new ideas, chemistries, methods, and analysis options. With it you can embrace or invent the future of real-time and thermo-optical analysis.

Thinking outside the Block
When generating publication data, confidence in your results is paramount. You must have a reliable instrument that always performs to specification. This is a tall order for any block-based system. Thermal and optical variation is unavoidable and only worsens as lamps and Peltier devices age. Furthermore, the faster a block is heated or cooled the greater the sample-to-sample variation observed.

Rotary Design
The Rotor-Gene is unlike any other instrument. It was designed from the ground-up for real-time thermooptical analysis. The key difference is the unique centrifugal rotary design that ensures well-to-well variation is negligible — as it should be. In the Rotor-Gene, every tube spins quickly in a chamber of moving air. Thus there is no positional temperature variation such as the recognized “edge effect” observed in block-based instruments. Optically, the Rotor-Gene is similarly uniform because every tube moves past the identical excitation and detection optics.

Convenient
The design simplicity and robustness of the Rotor-Gene has many welcome benefits. For example, there’s no block to clean and maintain, no alignment or optical calibration needed and there are no lamps to change. You also don’t need a reference dye like ROX™. The centrifugal force on each sample ensures there are no condensation issues and air bubbles are automatically removed. You can swap rotors on-the-fly to change tube format (the equivalent to swapping a whole block) and even write on individual tube caps! All this adds up to maximum convenience and minimum maintenance.

Temperature
Well-to-well thermal uniformity, equilibration time uniformity (the time for each well to reach a set temperature) and accuracy (how close set temperature is to actual) are the thermal variables important to real-time analysis. The rotary design gives the Rotor-Gene the best thermal and equilibration time uniformity of any instrument. Thermal accuracy, on the other hand, relies on proper instrument calibration and here the Rotor-Gene also shines: To ensure validated protocols are repeatable and transferable, many laboratories now require routine verification testing for thermal accuracy. To ensure accuracy, the Rotor-Gene uses an Optical Temperature Verification (OTV™) Rotor that automates verification testing. A printable report documents each test and, in the unlikely event the instrument requires re-calibration, this is also automatically adjusted and reported. Each test takes only minutes and can be repeated at any time and as often as required.

Optics
The Rotor-Gene uses a high-power light-emitting diode (LED) as an excitation source for each channel. Each LED maintains a uniform output and has a lifetime guarantee. Compare this to other systems using incandescent projector lamps or lasers. Lamps fade continually, burn out unpredictably, and need regular replacement. Lasers are expensive to repair and have only a single excitation wavelength — meaning they properly excite a very limited range of dyes. The complex optical mechanics used by other systems (such as X-Y scanning heads and fiberoptic bundles) can be fragile, expensive to repair and cumbersome to calibrate and clean. Further, they attenuate signal down a long path to the detector. By contrast, the Rotor-Gene has the fewest moving parts and the shortest optic path of any system. Simple, robust, ideal. Optical calibration is a topic few vendors like to discuss. The Rotor-Gene doesn’t need optical calibration because the identical optical path reaches all samples. Other systems require elaborate optical alignment and calibration. Furthermore, the Rotor-Gene doesn’t need a reference dye (such as ROX™) for the same reasons. For performance verification, the OTV™ Rotor (described above) checks the optical system every time it’s used. Again, peace-of-mind that your system is always performing at its peak.

Security
Data security is often overlooked, but vital to many laboratories. Corbett Life Science takes data integrity and security seriously. Each Rotor-Gene result file is given a digital signature that, when valid, ensures experiment data has not been manually altered or otherwise affected. You also have the option of identifying individual users as either an Analyzer, Operator or Administrator, each with different access privileges. Privileges are integrated with core Windows® security modules making it easy to administer and integrate with your current operating procedures. In addition, audit trails are stored along with run data to track changes made to experiment files, when they were made, and who made them.

Real-Time Amplification
New applications, new dyes, new analysis methods —there’s always something around the corner for real-time analysis. Don’t let your instrument hold you back. The all-new Rotor-Gene 6000 is the most versatile real-time analyzer ever developed. With it you can work with dyes covering the entire spectrum, from infra-red to UV and up to 6-plex capability. If throughput is important, the new Gene-Disc™ 100 supports 96 sample workflow plus extra space for controls. To maximize throughput, try a high speed run — a 40 cycle amplification can be completed in under 40 minutes without the need for special fast reagents, consumables, or hardware modifications.

Software
The most powerful real-time software ever developed is standard with the Rotor-Gene 6000. There are many options you won’t find elsewhere, such as the ability to calculate the efficiency of individual amplification reactions plus full-featured biostatistics and graphing capabilities. For gene expression analysis you have several options including REST1, LinReg2, delta-delta CT (2- CT )3 and Comparative Quantitation4. Exporting raw data for external analysis can also be done. The choice is yours. With an unlimited user license everyone can copy and run the software where and when they like!

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Contact

You can reach LTF by phone
+49 (0) 83 82 / 98 52-0
or by e-mail to
info(at)labortechnik.com.

More Products

On our German product pages you can find more products.

Last update: 2010-06-08