Agilent Bioanalyzer alternatives?

[rmetz]

My Agilent Bioanalyzer is giving me fits lately! Any one have suggestions for alternative systems for analyzing fragment sizes (other than gels)?

[SamCurt]

Bio-Rad Experion.

[kmcarr]

Agilent has a new system that fills the same space as the BioAnalyzer but is reportedly simpler and faster. It's called the TapeStation.

[pmiguel]

Caliper LabChipGX.

What problems are you having? Most issues have work-arounds...

--
Phillip

[adaptivegenome]

I use the Qiaxcel system. It works for me as well as the Bioanalyzer but the sample cost is about 4 times lower. It does use gel capillaries and the array lasts for only 6 months at a time so if you are not a high volume user, it might not be as cost effective as it is for me.

[rmetz]

Caliper LabChipGX.

What problems are you having? Most issues have work-arounds...

--
Phillip

Phillip, I run very diverse sample types, and it almost always gives errors about unexpected sizes, can't calculate RINs (not a big problem), it gives data in seconds rather than bp and won't switch unless I go in and do a smear analysis. Sometimes I'll run a sample, and run it again a hour later and get a completely different profile. It's just become a hassle.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Any thoughts, reviews and/or experiences with these other systems?

[veronica]

Caliper LabChipGX.

What problems are you having? Most issues have work-arounds...

--
Phillip

Hi Phillip,

Are you a LabChip GXI user?? If so, do it work fine in your hands?

[JakobHedegaard]

Hi Phillip,

Are you a LabChip GXI user?? If so, do it work fine in your hands?

Hi,

I would also like to hear from people with experience working with the LabChip GX.
/Jakob

[pmiguel]

No we just use an Agilent Bioanalyzer purchased back in 2003. Over the years we have gradually increased our use of it. But we are still not to the point where we need that kind of throughput.

--
Phillip

[garciad1]

Using Qiaxcel for NGS

I use the Qiaxcel system. It works for me as well as the Bioanalyzer but the sample cost is about 4 times lower. It does use gel capillaries and the array lasts for only 6 months at a time so if you are not a high volume user, it might not be as cost effective as it is for me.

We recently installed a Qiaxcel in our lab, but the training was horrible. Could you tell me what run parameters, marker, etc. you use for running NGS libraries for sizing etc.? I can't seem to find any references for using the system for this purpose. --Thanks!

[kwaraska]

We have the Tape Station for Agilent. While the RNA tapes are still a bit lacking, my favorite is the genomic tape so you can look at much larger sizes.
Comes in most handy when a customer gives us a library that is "200-400 bases-I swear" and nothing shows up on Tape Station High Sens DNA Assay. We can then run it on a genomic and show them their size is out of whack, and allow them to decide what to do.

It is also great in that each sample runs at the same time in its own lane. That speeds up the time but also prevents one sample from messing up everything later in the chip.

I'd be happy to talk off the board if you have specific questions.

BTW-we have both Tape Station and Bioanalyzer so I am speaking from experience with both

[dannydesloover]

Advanced Analytical is my personal favorite

I came from a lab in industry that trialed the BioA, TapeStation, Caliper system and Advanced Analytical fragment analyzer. While other groups in the company chose the BioA for the sake of "it's the standard," we chose the Advanced Analytical as it outperformed in almost every way, including running fragment analysis of dirty digests, without getting clogged.

I now work in an academic NGS core that uses a TapeStation and have been beating my head against a wall with its poor performance and reagents that expire either on the exact week of expiration or two weeks before.

AA also now sells a NGS specific system that I would gladly trade-in for the tapestation if I could. http://www.aati-us.com/instruments/f...yanalysis.html

[kmcarr]

I came from a lab in industry that trialed the BioA, TapeStation, Caliper system and Advanced Analytical fragment analyzer. While other groups in the company chose the BioA for the sake of "it's the standard," we chose the Advanced Analytical as it outperformed in almost every way, including running fragment analysis of dirty digests, without getting clogged.

I now work in an academic NGS core that uses a TapeStation and have been beating my head against a wall with its poor performance and reagents that expire either on the exact week of expiration or two weeks before.

AA also now sells a NGS specific system that I would gladly trade-in for the tapestation if I could. http://www.aati-us.com/instruments/f...yanalysis.html

So how much does that instrument cost?

[dannydesloover]

I don't remember off the top of my head, the big brother version was significantly more expensive than the BioA/Tapestation.

However I saw them at SLAS this past year and their new system I think is trying to compete with the BioA and TS, but again, not certain. I imagine it's a bit more. I am certain that operational (per sample costs) to be less. Other perks are you're not locked into using the vendor supplied ladder and you can go out to 40Kb for DNA QC, Tilling, etc and change gels to do total/mRNA (with quality score), etc. The software was surprisingly feature-rich, unlike the the tapestation.

[EvelyneLuyten]

We use the fragment analyzer from AATI, costs 31303.8€, cheaper per sample than bioanalyzer.
For implementation in our lab, this was easier than the LabChip GX because it can switch easily between different applications.

We see that our fragment analyzer shifts some peaks (sonicated samples) to the lower marker (to the left) unlike with the bioanalyzer. Does anyone have any idea how this is possible and what to trust???

Thanks!