rt and qpcr - machine recommendations?

[nshaikh]

Hi,

The post docs in the lab are doing a lot of q-pcr from CHIP and want us to get a q-pcr machine for the lab. I was wondering which machines people are using and would they recommend them for ease of use, reliability etc?

Thanks

[procopio f.a.]

we use a roche 480II
and we are quite happy about.
we have also a rotorgene from invitrogen...that we use for meting point variation study.

a cheap way is eppendorf and biorad.

pfa

[relaxin]

StepOnePlus from Life Technologies is a good buy. Easy to use and affordable. Recently, they have a sale.

[toxlab]

I agree with the StepOnePlus suggestion...they are still having a special through July. I have used the roche lightcycyler (old), biorad's earlier makes, and the StepOnePlus. It is easy to use and comes in the 48 or 96 well plate format (you can use strip tubes if you like though). The tower is pretty sturdy and straightforward. The software is easy to master as well. As far as reagents, I would shop around and not necessarily use AB's contracted Life tech supplies.

[damonbio]

Yep, StepOne is a good choice, although I've always found it weird that the VeriFlex Blocks (the independently controllable peltier blocks) are organized as columns instead of rows. It is indeed very sturdy and has an intuitive software.

BioRad's CFX96 Touch is also a great machine in my opinion, but it is a more expensive alternative. It's software is also very good and when you get the machine, you get a qBase license.