My Lab Essentials: Dr Tom Brown (Jr)

Whether it makes our lab work easier, helps to speed up our research or just saves us from doing a laborious task, we all have lab equipment we just can’t do without. In this first article in a new series, My Lab Essentials, Dr Tom Brown (Jr), Director and Head of Oxford R&D Laboratory at ATDBio, discusses the research and development his laboratory carries out to produce highly modified DNA oligonucleotides, and the lab equipment that helps his team to do it.

Tom says: “The oligonucleotides produced by ATDBio are unique and of the highest quality, and are used in a range of research areas including genetics, genomics, biochemistry, molecular biology and nanotechnology. We have recently moved to larger, custom built laboratories, which has allowed us to invest in new equipment and staff to meet the demand from our customers.

“The research carried out by ATDBio is successful because of our talented staff, and is made easier by the innovative equipment that we use.”

Here are Tom’s lab essentials:

1. Xevo G2 QTof with ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System from Waters

Combining the Xevo G2 QTof with the ACQUITY UPLC H-Class System enables good separation with short run times, and allows us to obtain accurate MS data on DNA oligonucleotides. The high sensitivity of the Xevo G2 QTof allows us to interrogate impurities arising from oligonucleotide synthesis; this information allows us to optimize DNA synthesis and ultimately to produce better quality oligonucleotides.

2. ShimadzuProminence LC-20AP Preparative HPLC system

Powerful, good value, easy to use prep. HPLC system with intuitive software.

3. ThermoMixer^® C from Eppendorf

These versatile temperature-controlled mixers are useful for all kinds of chemical reactions in different vessels. We use them extensively for DNA labelling and enzyme reactions.

4. CLARIOstar multi-mode microplate reader from BMG LABTECH

Microplate reader with monochromator, spectrometer, and filters. We make DNA with many different fluorescent dyes, and the monochromator allows us to measure fluorescence intensity at different emission/absorbance wavelengths without needing a separate filter for each dye. Can also be measure emission and absorbance spectra, and for routine UV measurements.

5. OligoPilot™ 400 from GE Healthcare

An automated system for the large-scale synthesis of DNA and RNA oligonucleotides.

Which lab equipment makes your research possible? Review them here.