Mini-PROTEAN® Tetra Electrophoresis System From Bio-Rad

We have been using Bio-Rad’s Mini-Protean® III Electrophoresis Cell and Invitrogen’s XCELLII SureLock Systems with the Mini Trans-blot cell for running protein gels and for Western blotting. However, we have found that the Bio-Rad Tetra Cell is a really nice apparatus that allows up to four small gels to be run simultaneously in the same apparatus with about the same buffer volume that is used in the Mini-Protean® III. I like this system because of its small size. I have never liked running large bulky gels and I can routinely use this system when I am either running a lot of column fractions on gels, or when I need to perform a Western blot and silver stain. I can run all the gels one time and only have to clean up once.

The Tetra Cell has all of the same modifications as the Mini-Protean® III system. Both systems are a huge improvement over the previous systems. I used to have considerable problems with gels leaking during casting as well as the tank leaking during running with the older Bio-Rad systems. The new systems seem to have eliminated both problems. In this system, the spacers are part of the taller plate (called the spacer plate) so only the two pieces of glass are needed to form the gel sandwich. The two pieces of glass are then inserted into a casting frame that rests on the benchtop. This frame ensures the glass plates are even and tightly secured before they are placed in the casting stand where the gel will be poured. Using this improved design, I seldom have a gel leak while pouring, which is something I couldn’t say for the previous system.

The only down side that I have is that I do not like Bio-Rad’s precast gels. They are not as good as the precast gels from other companies; I have found them to run less reproducibly and to be of lower quality overall. I have found it much easier to pour my own gels and obtain more consistent results. I also purchased the Mini-Protean® III Multi-Casting Chamber (Catalog #165-4110) with this system. With the Mini-PROTEAN® III multi-casting chamber, you can cast up to 12 gels of 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, or 1.5 mm thickness simultaneously. The gels can be stored for up to two weeks.