A unique application of the Inotech Harvester was developed by Dr. Douglas Kolner* and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin. This technique permits the collection and immobilization of single stranded M13 template DNA on glass fiber filter discs without organic solvent extraction and acetic acid precipitation. The bound samples are washed briefly and the filter discs transferred to a microwell plate for eluting the DNA. Templates from 96 phage containing supernatants are processed simultaneously. The processing time from 96 microcultures to sequence quality templates is about one hour. The advantages of this method include fewer reagents, fewer consumables and most importantly less time.
The Single Stranded Template DNA Harvesting System (ISS-110-96) is comprised of the Inotech 96 well Harvester and Vacusafe work station. The harvester is compact, easy to operate and made of high grade stainless steel for precision and durability. Its unique cutting plate ensures discs are cut and isolated from the filter mat before the DNA templates are collected. Cross contamination between samples is completely eliminated. The Harvester's companion accessory, Vacusafe, combines a wash pump, vacuum pump, wash bottle and waste collection bottles into a single bench top unit. Pump regulators allow the user to optimize the performance of Vacusafe for this application. In addition, Vacusafe has a internal controller mechanism that turns the pumps ON and OFF automatically to maintain the set pressures.
* Kolner, D.E., Guilfoyle, R.A. and L.M. Smith. (1994) A high throughput system for the preparation of single stranded templates grown in microculture. J. DNA Sequencing and Mapping 4, 253-257.