Hi, my name is Nik Chmiel and I'm a scientist from Bio-Rad Laboratories.
Today I'm going to show you how to use Bio-Rad's Mini-PROTEAN TGX precast gels
with the Tetra cell.
The Mini-PROTEAN TGX precast gels
have an extended 12-month shelf life and can be run using standard Laemmli running
and sample buffer conditions.
The TGX gel comes in a foil and plastic-lined pouch with a tear notch
at either side for easy opening.
You may already be familiar with the Mini-PROTEAN Tetra cell, which allows you to run between one
and four gels using two cores.
The first core is the electrode assembly module, which has two electrode posts.
The second core, for running three or four gels is the companion module.
To open the TGX gel package, grasp the pouch firmly and begin tearing at one of the notches.
The TGX gels have several features that were added based on input from you, our users.
The TGX gel is in an all-plastic
cassette which has a bottom-opening design, which allows for
increased resolution from your run.
There is a reference line to help you monitor your electrophoresis run
and the wells are both outlined and labeled for easy sample loading and
sample identification.
You need to remove the tape from the bottom of the cassette.
To do this, find the tape at the bottom and peel it off gently but firmly.
To begin assembling the TGX gels in the Mini-PROTEAN Tetra cell, prepare the
electrode assembly module by opening up the wing clamps on either side.
Load the TGX gels with the short plate facing inside into the electrode
assembly module.
Then firmly grasp each wing clamp and close it one at a time,
and when both are closed, you have
assembled the electrode assembly module.
To begin assembling the Mini-PROTEAN Tetra cell, take the electrode assembly module and place it
in the Tetra cell tank. It is important to align the banana plugs on the
electrode module with the
tabs on the tank,
and make sure that the red marking
that designates the anode
lines up with the red hatch mark on the Tetra cell tank.
If you are running three or four gels,
you add the companion module and also put it in the Tetra tank.
Next you want to remove the comb from your TGX gel.
Locate the notch in the middle of the cassette, grasp the comb from the center
and lift straight up and out.
Add running buffer by filling the inner chambers first,
and then the outside chamber to cover
the wells in the gels.
If you're running one or two gels in one core, fill it to the 2 Gels mark.
Now, since I'm running four gels,
I want to pour buffer up to the 4 Gels mark on the Tetra tank.
The next step is to rinse the wells
of your TGX gels with buffer from the tank using a transfer or
pasteur pipet.
Now you can load your samples.
In this case I'll be loading the Precision Plus dual color protein standard.
Once you have loaded the wells, you are ready
to start the electrophoresis run. Place the lid on the
Tetra tank, making sure to match the colored electrodes
on the lid to the electrode posts on the core.
The run is complete when the sample dye front reaches the reference marker on the bottom of
the cassette.
After the run is complete, turn off the PowerPac power supply, remove the leads, and
remove the Tetra cell lid.
Pour the buffer out of the core so that
you can unload the gels.
Now you are ready to remove the gels from the core assembly. Open each wing
clamp of the core and remove the gels.
The next step is to
open your TGX gel cassette.
To do this, use the opening lever that is supplied with every box of gels.
There are a few features that I'd like to point out on the opening lever.
The first is the arrow that is cut
into the lever. This arrow fits in between the
cassette plates at the four arrows on the cassette itself.
You use the teeth on the opening lever to wedge in between the plates of the cassette and crack the plates
open using an upward or downward motion.
Once all four points have been cracked,
peel the plates apart and your gel is ready for downstream applications.
One way to remove
the gel from the plate is to invert the plate over a buffer-filled tray, and the gel
should peel from the plate into the buffer.
The other way to remove the gel from the remaining plate, is to
pick it up from the bottom and gently place it into your staining solution.
We hope that this instructional video has helped you run
your Mini-PROTEAN TGX gels in your Tetra cell.
TGX gels offer the same resolution as the gold-standard Laemmli system, with the convenience of an extended shelf life.
For more information, go to www.miniprotean.com. Thank you.