Sunday, April 16, 2006

NGS Genographic Kit Status

As I've discussed on a previous post I've purchased a National Geographic genome tracking kit. In case you missed that post, here's the link.

The status of my kit is that it is in DNA Isolation, explained below:

DNA ISOLATION:
The cells are broken open by incubation with a protein-cutting enzyme overnight. Chemicals and the samples are transferred into deep well blocks for robotic DNA isolation. The blocks of chemicals and samples are placed on the extraction robot. The robotic DNA isolation uses silica-coated iron beads. In the presence of the appropriate chemicals DNA will bind to silica. The robot then uses magnetic probes to collect the beads (and DNA) and transfer them through several chemical washes and finally into a storage buffer, which allows the beads to release the DNA. At this point the beads are collected and discarded.

I'm eager for the next step....

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