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Low cost DNA gel documentation

by in Lab Hacks
From the Bitesize Bio channel

Equipment for photographing DNA gels stained with ethidium bromide (or other fluorescent dyes), doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars. These days, great pictures can be obtained with a standard digital camera and an orange filter. Here’s how.

You will need:

  • A digital camera
  • A Cokin orange filter 002A or similar (This does not have to fit onto the camera, a square filter will do.)
  • A polystyrene ice bucket with a thick (3-5cm bottom)
  • A UV transilluminator

To build it:

  1. Cut a hole in the bottom of the box that is big enough for the camera lens to fit into.
  2. Tape the filter over the hole, inside the box.
  3. Set the camera flash to off and the mode to black & white.
  4. Push the camera’s lens tube into the hole (or place the camera lens over the hole if there is no lens tube). Depending on the shape of your camera, you may have to modify the box to ensure that the camera is pointing straight into the hole.
  5. Place your DNA gel onto the transilluminator and put the box over the gel.
  6. Turn the transilluminator and the camera on. You should now be able to see the stained DNA on the gel in the viewfinder of the camera.
  7. To get a quality picture and good detection limits you will have to play around with the ISO, shutter speed and aperture. This will be specific to your camera, but the setting ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/3, Aperture 8.0 worked for me so may be a useful starting point for you.

Update: Here’s a schematic diagram that shows how the whole thing should fit together. Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

diy-dna-gels.gif

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About the author

Nick Oswald

Nick Oswald started Bitesize Bio on a Macbook on his kitchen table in 2007 while in his 7th year of working as a molecular biologist in biotech. He made it his day job in 2010 and has been loving it ever since.

What do you think?

24 comments

  1. from The Genetic Genealogist on

    I sure wish I’d known this when I was a graduate student! Recording gels digitally was a 20 minute procedure in our lab and the quality was never that good.

    By the way, welcome to the DNA Network!

  2. from Zhong-Min Dai on

    This is very interesting and usefull.
    I don’t know how to choose the filter. If I want to use a filter that green light can pass through, but blue light cannot, What characteristic should the filter be?

  4. from Zhong-Min Dai on

    Thank you very much!

  5. from on

    You don’t even need the UV transilluminator. If you’re using sybr Green or sybrSafe, you simply use blue LEDs like a bicycle lamp or a strong torchlight.

  6. from Kate on

    Thanks! Your system seems like just what I need, but do you mean polystyrene ice bucket? or the polyurethane ice buckets they sell?

  7. from on

    Hi Kate,

    I was thinking of the polystyrene boxes that enzymes are normally delivered in (packed in dry ice). The reason these are best is that they have a thick bottom.

    This means that, after you make a hole in the bottom of the box, the camera lens tube can be pushed through, and the filter taped over the other side of the hole.

    I have added a diagram to the article to illustrate.

  8. from Kate on

    Nick,
    Thanks. Actually, do you mean styrofoam?
    I’ve been really busy this week but I mean to try the method as soon as I can, maybe today.
    Thanks,
    Kate

  9. from on

    Hi Kate

    Yes, styrofoam = polystyrene

    Good luck with trying out the method. Be sure to post your results here!! :)

  10. from Kate on

    I made a gel doc using syrofoam box deep yellow 15 filter and my little digital camera. It seems to work best if I take the pictures in color, then convert to bw on the computer. Auto exposure and focusing seem OK. The problem it has is that there seems to be a reflection of the filter in the middle of the picture. It’s less obvious when I convert the picture to bw, however.
    Is there a way to get rid of the reflection?

  11. from on

    Hi Kate

    I would suggest two things:

    1) Modify the box so that the camera lens rests on the filter (i.e. so there is no gap between the lens and the filter)

    and/or

    2) Make sure that no external light gets in i.e. make sure the lens/lens tube fits snugly in the hole without letting any light in. If required, plug up any gaps with cotton wool or something.

    Let me know if this fixed it.

  12. from ted choi on

    Max, have you actually used a blue LED lightsource for visualizing bands with sybrsafe? sounds like a great idea. can you describe what you used and how well it worked? is it bright enough for photography, and do you need more filtration than the orange filter specified at the beginning of this thread?

    thanks,

    ted

  13. from Pablo on

    Nick, did you use regular tape to fit the filter onto the box? I’m afraid I might ruin the filter after removing the tape from it…

    • from on

      Hi Pablo – you could using masking tape (decorator’s tape). That is designed to stick and unstick from things easily.

  14. from Pablo on

    Allright, I’ve ordered the filter from the net so I can’t test the system yet, but I think it will work neatly since the box fits our UV exactly. I’m not sure about their prices elsewhere, but a Geldoc costs tons here in Brazil, so this will sure help a lot. Thanks for putting this up!

  15. from scott on

    pearlbiotech.com sells a blue light LED/electrophorhesis system that costs a huge amount less than other blue light illuminators and even less than the cost of comparable gel boxes.

    disclaimer: i don’t have any association with pearl biotech, but i do like the idea of cheap but effective lab equipment.

  16. from on

    I am SO doing this tomorrow. I have never in my life found a more useful website. I would pay for this type of advice!

  18. from on

    That is a great post- Thanks! I will definitely try it. Do you know about the new gel doc imagers that claim to be less expensive- Would love some advice if anyone has used the new one by biorad or any others.

  19. from on

    Hi, guys. I am seriously considering making a geldoc system with blue led light. I will be using it mainly for DNA in agarose gels stained with SYBR dyes or GelGreen. There are many points to consider such as:

    1. Transillumination vs. epi-illumination. Some useful info:
    http://www.mecan.co.jp/Eng/genetic/MBP-LEDB.htm they use 6 star type high power leds.
    2. I am wondering if this would work for transillumination when coupled with appropriate diffuser on top of it.
    I will be back soon with more suggestions.
  20. from on

    Hi,

    I’m thinking of building this system.
    Two questions.

    1) Do you really need the orange filter? Why not apply the same effect in photoshop or in the camera settings? Does the filter allow using a cheaper camera or help in getting a better contrast of the bands?

    2) I have inherited a very old UVP M-20 UV transilluminator. The lamps are quite clearly visible which leads to a gradient across at least part of my PCR gel.
    Any suggestions for how to get rid of this cheaply?

    Thanks

    O

    • from on

      Hi Oliver,
      1) Do you really need the orange filter? Why not apply the same effect in photoshop or in the camera settings? Does the filter allow using a cheaper camera or help in getting a better contrast of the bands?

      Yes, absolutely !! The orange filter cuts off the UV specter that otherwise can damage your camera chip. An UV filter is also advisable. I have compared orange vs. dark yellow filter (usually used for SYBR Green I stained gels) and found that the latter work great with EtBr (better than the original orange filter). You can find various filters in ebay quite cheap.

  21. from on

    Thanks for such a nice article. What we should do if we want to make an in-house UV transilluminator? It would be really helpful if you comment on that or send me any relevant link. Thanks

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