The FlashGel™ Agarose Electrophoresis System is almost certainly the fastest way to run agarose gels. It has the added benefit of allowing the user to visualize the gel as it runs by using the dedicated gel running/light unit. This built-in illumination system effectively allows real-time viewing of DNA fragments as they migrate through the gel, allowing the user to stop the run once suitable separation has been achieved. The FlashGel™ System is capable of separating fragments of from 50 bp to 4 kb in less than 5 minutes and with excellent resolution. Band separation is clean and sharp and no smiling is observed.
The gel cassette comes sealed in a pouch and once the gel is removed from the pouch and the seal is removed from the gel, the right hand side slides into the running/light unit. 5 ul of dH2O is added to each lane and then no more than 5 ul of the DNA sample is added. Once the samples are loaded, the gel is run for 2-7 min at 275 V. A proprietary stain is contained within the sealed agarose gel which is 5-20 times more sensitive than ethidium bromide. This allows for detection of as little as 5 ng DNA per band. Using the onboard light source, this sensitivity increases to 0.25 ng DNA per band with a UV transilluminator. A record of the gel can be kept using any UV transilluminator and imaging system. The sensitivity of the FlashGel™ System allows you to use very small quantities of your DNA and so maintain your DNA sample for future applications. DNA fragments separate in a fraction of the time required by regular agarose electrophoresis and other precast gel electrophoresis systems.
Although there are many advantages to using the FlashGel™ System, the system is relatively expensive compared to the low cost of making agarose gels. An additional limitation is that there is only one available format, a 13 lane gel, and this may be limiting for some applications. Excising bands from the pre-cast gels is not possible as with standard agarose gels due to the sealed unit. If band excision is necessary, you will need to run your DNA on a regular agarose gel. But undoubtedly this system from Lonza is a real timesaver and removes the monotonous task of preparing agarose gels. The system is ideal for quickly checking PCR reactions or restriction digest fragments. Although the gels are relatively expensive, the time savings may compensate for this expense.
Boyd Scott
Senior Research Scientist
Vitae Pharmaceuticals
Discovery Biology