Hardware

The 24sure protocol is an evolution of BlueGnome’s CytoChip protocol which has been successfully implemented by a wide variety of laboratories in over 25 countries. The protocol is very straightforward and designed to minimise the requirement for specialist hardware. There are however a few items which may not be available in an existing cytogenetics or molecular laboratory which are required in order to run 24sure successfully.

Laser scanner. 24sure uses Cy fluorescent dyes to label the amplified fragments. For this reason a laser scanner is required to image the 24sure arrays. Scanners should incorporate green (532 nm) and red (635 nm) lasers and have a minimum scanning resolution of 10 μm. An autoloader is not a prerequisite however the ability to upgrade to an autoloader is useful as scanning quickly represents a significant overhead as volumes increase. Low cost CCD based scanners are not recommended. Higher cost, high resolution, scanners may be used if available however there is no benefit in scanning below 10 μm.

Hybex water bath. Very accurate temperature control of the array wash is important if the correct level of stringency is to be achieved. For this reason a low volume, temperature controlled water bath such as Scigene’s Hybex Microarray Incubation System is recommended.

Lidded thermal cycler. A lidded thermal cycler is required in order to complete the SurePlex amplification protocol. The thermal cycler should take 0.2 ml PCR tubes.

For high throughput applications a centrifugal evaporator enables labelling to be undertaken in 96 well plates and a swing out centrifuge with a microtitre plate will enable multiple arrays to be dried in a single operation.