Has anyone ever utilized a food dehydrator for drying PCR plate samples down to mail out? I know about plate dryers, concentrators and incubators, but we have none of these and no money to get these as they are all pretty expensive. I was thinking a $35 food dehydrator from a kitchen supply place might accomplish the same task. (We have a salad spinner for a plate centrifuge).
Simply let it sit overnight open, it will dry out naturally (provided it is low humidity environment)
Do you have a clean hood? The plate will dry out more quickly with a higher rate of air flow.
What is not clear, is are you sending out amplified material, or material to be amplified.
If it is amplified samples and not knowing what type of analysis you are doing, one concern is that a prolonged open plate drying could potentially lead to suboptimal samples due to exonuclease activity of taq which could degrade amplicons from the ends (taq will still be active at r/t). If the samples are to be re-amplified, then subjecting them to an air current also has the potential to lead to cross-contamination.
If you are prepared to accept these caveats, then placing the plates on a heating block / food warmer or gently heating from below with a hair-drier would accelerate the process. I would be inclined to put a sheet of parafilm over the plate and puncture it with a needle over each well opening. Replace parafilm/heat seal membrane afterwards. I would also try and do the process well away from any areas where you are likely to be dispensing PCR reagents or doing amplification.
I am intrigued by the food dehydrator - details would be interesting. Is it based upon vacuum drying?
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Update- Food dehydrator works like a charm for drying down plates (PCR product) :)
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