DIY Blue Gel Transilluminator

An image of a DIY blue gel transilluminator

Why make one

One of the big costs of switching away from ethidium bromide to something like Sybr Safe is that you need a new gel transilluminator. From Invitrogen, such a thing can cost quite a bit. In Richard Murray's lab we have built our own blue gel transilluminators for about an order of magnitude less than the Invitrogen price to help offset the higher cost of the Sybr Safe DNA dye.

Instructions

• Get a light table
  • We've had good luck with the Porta-Trace light boxes bought from Amazon/local arts supply stores, both 1 and 2 bulb versions (see picture).
• Place blue light filter(s) on top
  • Roscolux color filters work well for this, and are widely available
  • We currently use two-three layers of Roscolux #80, and are trying one layer of Roscolux #382 as well. One standard sheet of Roscolux filter is enough for ~4 10"x12" pieces to cover the top of the light box if you cut carefully.
• View Sybr Safe stained gel with appropriate emission filters
  • Had success with Invitrogen's viewing goggles, but could certainly be done with Roscolux filters as well.

Total cost should be around $50-100 depending on how you set things up.

Other Uses

• Can be used to screen for GFP-expressing colonies visually
• Can be used to screen for RFP-expressing colonies with different filters
  • Try Roscolux #389 folded over 3-4 times, viewing through Roscolux #19, the colonies appear to glow pink

Caveats

• Imaging gels can be a bit tricky if your imaging apparatus does not sit nicely on top of the gel imager.
• Place a piece of glass over the Roscolux filters if you are going to cut a gel on top of them
• Be careful with liquids, fluids, nearby conductive buffers, etc. as your light box may not be waterproof.