A Good Protein Gel Staining Kit

May 17, 2016

Boston University School of Medicine
Pharmacology
Senior Postdoc Associate

Overall

Quality of Results

Ease-of-Optimization

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Company:

Thermo Scientific

Product Name:

Pierce Silver Stain Kit

Catalog Number:

24612

Protein gels are stained with a silver staining kit to confirm the quantity and quality of protein purification.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Protein gels (SDS-PAGE or pre-cast gels)

Starting Material

None

Protocol Overview

Two versions of the protocols are clearly described in the manual and both are easy to follow. Everything is included in the kit except fixation and washing solutions both of which are easy to make in the lab.

Tips

Use clean gloves when handling the gel staining. Do not overload samples.

Results Summary

The whole staining process can be done in 1.5h or less. Proteins at nanograms are detectable with a very low background.

Additional Notes

None

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Summary

The Good

Fast staining with high sensitivity and low background

The Bad

None

The Bottom Line

I never tried other silver staining kits from other companies so it is hard for me to say this is the best product. However, based on the experience after staining more than 12 gels with this kit, I found the result is reproducible and the volume of solutions used in this kit can be reduced to 50% for a regular mini-gel allowing me to stain more gels. Overall this is a good product for protein detection.

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