I have used both the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyser and the Shimadzu MCE-202 MultiNA extensively and they are both good microchip electrophoresis instruments. They both have similar accuracy and precision for both bp length and concentration.

The main advantages of the Bioanalyser is that you have a single-use chip so you don't need to worry about cleaning it as you do for the MultiNA, the Bioanalyser has a high sensitivity kit that has a much lower Limit of Detection, and also has a kit capable of measuring proteins.

The main advantage of the MultiNA is that you can do an entire 96 well plate in one go without having to do any transfers, whereas the Bioanalyser can only do 12 samples at a time and you have to load each sample into the chip individually. As a result, the bench time required to run 96 samples on the MultiNA is about 30 min, then you can walk away until it is finished. To run 96 samples on the Bioanalyser would take me a full working day (8 runs).

The best instrument for you will depend on your use case:

* If you have relatively low throughput and/or need to analyse low DNA/RNA concentrations (i.e. < 5ng/µL) or proteins, then I would recommend the Bioanalyser.

* If you have higher sample throughput and are only analysing DNA/RNA, then I would recommend the MultiNA.

Whichever instrument you chose, make sure you read the specifications for bp length and concentration accuracy/precision. They are representative of what you get from real-world performance (we have analysed samples on both that have been measured by Digital PCR) and it can often be confusing to be given a value that is 5bp different to what you expect (but still within the specifications of the instrument) if you are not aware of this.

you can see the 2100 Bioanalyzer Instruments from Agilent, the link below:

http://www.genomics.agilent.com/en/product.jsp?cid=AG-PT-106&_requestid=1264645

I have experience using the 2100 an it's a good machine. However the new one (2200) have many advantages.

http://www.genomics.agilent.com/en/TapeStation-Instrument-Accessories/2200-TapeStation/?cid=AG-PT-181&tabId=AG-PR-1004

I have used both the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyser and the Shimadzu MCE-202 MultiNA extensively and they are both good microchip electrophoresis instruments. They both have similar accuracy and precision for both bp length and concentration.

The main advantages of the Bioanalyser is that you have a single-use chip so you don't need to worry about cleaning it as you do for the MultiNA, the Bioanalyser has a high sensitivity kit that has a much lower Limit of Detection, and also has a kit capable of measuring proteins.

The main advantage of the MultiNA is that you can do an entire 96 well plate in one go without having to do any transfers, whereas the Bioanalyser can only do 12 samples at a time and you have to load each sample into the chip individually. As a result, the bench time required to run 96 samples on the MultiNA is about 30 min, then you can walk away until it is finished. To run 96 samples on the Bioanalyser would take me a full working day (8 runs).

The best instrument for you will depend on your use case:

* If you have relatively low throughput and/or need to analyse low DNA/RNA concentrations (i.e. < 5ng/µL) or proteins, then I would recommend the Bioanalyser.

* If you have higher sample throughput and are only analysing DNA/RNA, then I would recommend the MultiNA.

Whichever instrument you chose, make sure you read the specifications for bp length and concentration accuracy/precision. They are representative of what you get from real-world performance (we have analysed samples on both that have been measured by Digital PCR) and it can often be confusing to be given a value that is 5bp different to what you expect (but still within the specifications of the instrument) if you are not aware of this.

i think agilent 2100 bioanalyzer is the gold standard regarding chip based electrophoresis, it works good for finding out the quality of RNAs. For protein electrophoresis there is not much publication but it will work provided you remove the highly abundant protein from your total protein especially in the case of plant protein....for RNA its the best

I also think that Agilent Bioanalyzer is the standard instrument for the purpose. In our hands, Bioanalyzer 2100 works well for checking the quality RNA and DNA samples (for subsequent RNA-seq or ChIP-seq). You can load up to 12 samples/chip. However, if you have only one or two samples to analyze per time, it could be a waste of money as the chips cannot be reused and they are not cheap.....

A new type of the instrument (Agilent 2200 TapeStation system) is available on the market. According to the sales rep I spoke with, there are some advantages and disadvantages of the new system compared with the old one:

Advantages:

1. the chip for 2200 is pre-loaded with gel matrix so it is easier to handle.

N.B. in the case of the 2100 system, you have to load gel matrix onto a chip yourself.

2. up to 16 samples can be loaded per chip.

3. the chip can be used several time within 2 weeks.

4. the run time/sample is shorter than 2100.

5. the running cost/sample is roughly the same as 2100.

6. I'm not 100% sure but, it seems that sample loading etc. can be automated and the system can handle a high-throughput analyses (96 samples).

Disadvantage:

1. the instrument costs several thousands euros more.

2. the detection sensitivity for RNA is slightly lower than the 2100 system.

3. so far, there is no chip for small RNA analyses available.

If you are interested, I think you can get a demo machine for 2200 by contacting your local Agilent representative. It would be difficult to get a demo machine for 2100, though (because it has been around on the market for years).