Hi everyone,
we are looking into buying our first qPCR (most likely the Thermo Fisher QuantStudio 3 or 5 system) and would like to be able to estimate our running costs in advance.
We are a small conservation facility in Namibia and would get the machine through a grant, but of course will need to be able to maintain it as well, on a limited budget...
Hence the question - how much of a difference does it make to our traditional PCR machines (Applied Biosystems GeneAmp 9700), will we need all new reagents, or are our current mixes (AmpliTaq Gold, Qiagen Mastermix, and TrueAllele Mastermix is what we mainly use, with various sets of dyed primers) good to be run in the new machine?
Thank you very much! Julia
Hi Julia
There are 2 major changes in your costs:
1-You would need optic microtubes/strips/plates which are much more expensive than consumables used for traditional PCR.
2-For detection you need to use either
A) A fluorescence probe+pair of ordinary primers; these will work with your Qiagen Mastermix. Although fluorescence probes are expensive.
or B) Only ordinary primers which will work with a SYBR Green contained mastermix. This mastermix is 2-3 times more expensive than the one used in traditional PCR.
Good luck
I recommend using SYBR Green contained mix. Microtubes costs may change device to device. For instance, with CFX96 you can use cheap microtubes but If you have rotorgene you must pay more for tubes. That tubes are spesific for rotorgene.
Good luck
Thank you both very much! I'm also open to suggestions as to which machine might be the best choice for us, cost-wise. We're not set to Thermo in the end...
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