Trans-blot Turbo System from Bio-Rad

Wednesday, February 13, 2013
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Dayong Zhai
Cancer Center
Sanford/Burnham Medical Research Institute
Scientist

Our research in the lab relies heavily on in vitro biochemical assays, especially routine SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis and Western blotting. Transfers using conventional tank and semi-dry Western blotting protocols can be time consuming, and reproducibility is often a problem. Bio-Rad Laboratories has launched the Trans-Blot Turbo transfer system, a rapid Western blotting instrument that allows researchers to efficiently transfer proteins from gel to blot in 3-10 minutes depending on protein size. The Trans-Blot Turbo system accelerates the blotting process, creates reproducible results without sacrificing performance. The system uses pre-packaged Turbo transfer packs that include proprietary blotting paper, buffer, and membrane (nitrocellulose or PVDF), sparing the time and hassle associated with the preparation of typical Western blots.

Company Bio-Rad
Product Name Trans-blot Turbo System
Catalog Number 170-4155

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application Western blotting (WB)
Starting Material HeLa cell mitochondrial fractions
Protocol Overview We have been using the Trans-blot Turbo system for over a year. The system is very easy to set up. After gel electrophoresis, you sandwich the gel between two ion reservoir stacks in the cassette, lock the cassette, put it into cassette bay A or B, choose a preprogrammed protocol provided by Bio-Rad from the LCD menu screen and run. We mostly select the turbo mixed MW protocol to run our samples, which needed 7 min to finish.
Tips We used HSP60 protein as a loading control to show that we loaded equal amounts of mitochondria sample in each treatment. Also, it is very important to get rid of all the bubbles using the provided blot roller when you place your membranes on your gels. After you finish the transfer, wash the cassette completely and clear the cassette bays to avoid future malfunction of the system.
Results Summary When analyzing transfer efficiency of both proteins markers and our samples, the Bio-Rad Trans-blot turbot system delivered equal or better results compared to the traditional tank or semi-dry system. The biggest advantage of the system is that it provides fast, reproducible transfer results, eliminating the variation concerns among different samples and users with robust performance. Also, it has solid design and is easy to set up.
Features Summary It has solid design and is easy to operate, which makes it the best among similar products.
Additional Notes If you routinely perform lots of gel electrophoresis and WB, I strongly suggested having the Trans-blot Turbo system. Both handmade gels and various vendor made precast gels are compatible with the system.
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Trans-blot Turbo System from Bio-Rad
The mitochondrial samples were centrifuged to generate pellets and supernatants and the pellets was re-suspended in 20 mM HEPES buffer and were analyzed by SDS-PAGE/immunoblotting using anti-Hsp60 antibodies. PageRuler plus prestained protein ladder from Fermentas indicates the molecular weight of loading samples.

Summary

The Good

Fast, efficient, reproducible transfer results.

The Bad

It does produce bad smell after the transfer is done. Try to unload your membrane in a hood.

The Bottom Line

Solid designed and very useful instrument.

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