Electrophoresis has been around for most of the last century, but only during the past decade has the technology expanded its throughput capabilities. Traditional systems had sample throughout capacities that ranged from as little as four to as many as 16 wells/combs. However, with the new breed of higher-throughput systems, these capabilities have increased to the range of 48 to 200.

There are two types of high-throughput gel electrophoresis systems: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal units typically use agarose gel, while the vertical systems oftentimes use polyacrylamide gel. To accomplish higher throughput, systems can either accommodate several different plates in parallel (e.g., a unit that accommodates 2 x 48 or 2 x 24 plates) or a single plate of 48 or 96 wells.

The benefits of high-throughput systems are many. For one, the price tag of such systems is not significantly higher than their traditional counterparts. Many of these high-throughput systems are primarily used for detection of single strand polymorphism (SSP), which provides users with a lower cost alternative to capillary electrophoresis. Also, high-throughput systems typically have faster analysis times, which is important for DNA fingerprinting applications in forensics.

There are a number of vendors that manufacture high-throughput gel electrophoresis system. Bio-Rad Laboratories is among the larger vendors. The company offers two horizontal high-throughput models: the Sub-Cell Model 96 and Model 192. The Model 96 runs up to 96 samples and accommodates a single 96-well plate or multiples of 24. In contrast, the Model 192 accommodates a combination of 26- and 51-well plates for a throughput of up to 192 samples per run. The Model 192 is also compatible with multichannel pipettes.

The E-Gel family of electrophoresis products from Life Technologies comes in different agarose concentrations and throughput formats. Its high-throughput models include the E-Gel 48 and 96. The 48 model is a two-channel system with each channel capable of handling a 24-well plate, in addition to two marker/control wells. The 96 model accommodates a single 96-well plate and up to eight marker/control wells. The respective run times of the 48 and 96 models are 20 minutes and 12 minutes.

Hoefer’s SUBHT high-throughput gel electrophoresis unit was introduced in mid-2012. This horizontal system can run a 96-well plate in parallel to a 24-well control plate in about 30 minutes. The gel dimensions and the maximum buffer volume are 15 x 15 cm and 1.2 L, respectively.

Other manufacturers of high-throughput gel electrophoresis systems include MIDSCI, CBS Scientific and SCIE-PLAS. The market for high-throughput electrophoresis systems is still fairly young at less than $20 million. SSP analysis in diagnostic labs is playing a significant role in its rapid growth. The low price tag is also important, as many users migrate from lower- to high-throughput systems.

High-Throughput Gel

Electrophoresis at a Glance:

Leading Suppliers

• Bio-Rad Laboratories

• Life Technologies

• Hoefer (Harvard Bioscience)

Largest Markets

• Biopharmaceutical

• Clinical/Diagnostics

• Academia

Instrument Cost

• $700–$8,000