New Application of CCD-based Image Analyser Offers Accurate Detection of Proteins Stained with Flamingo Fluorescent Dye

Syngene, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions, is delighted to announce Dyversity, its innovative multi-functional imager, can now accurately and rapidly detect protein stained with Flamingo™, the newer protein dye from Bio-Rad, making Dyversity a cost-effective alternative to laser scanning.

Syngene’s technical team used Dyversity, which consists of a light tight darkroom containing a 16-bit CCD camera fitted with a Cy dye lighting module, dual wavelength transilluminator, UV, long pass and Cy3 dye emission filters, to image 1D acrylamide gels. These gels, containing 1000-0.1ng of molecular weight standard PeppermintStick™ (Invitrogen) stained with Flamingo, were imaged under three different conditions: Cy2 excitation with Cy3 emission filter; Cy2 excitation with UV emission filter and medium-wave UV excitation with a short pass emission filter.

Syngene’s technical experts saw Dyversity could image 5ng of Flamingo stained protein in 2 seconds using medium-wave UV excitation and short pass emission filter. However, using Cy2 illumination with the Cy3 or UV emission filter, Dyversity was 10 times more sensitive, detecting as little as 0.5 ng of protein in the same time.

Dyversity can quickly image such minute amounts of Flamingo stained protein because its high quality camera has the fastest capture times per channel for fluorescent and visible dyes of any current CCD based system. Dyversity’s darkroom also has a large door opening to accommodate a range of gel sizes and users can easily add new filters and lighting as they need to, making this the most versatile image analyser available.

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager commented: “We are pleased Dyversity can image one of the newer protein dyes with such speed and sensitivity. This unrivalled performance coupled with the flexibility to upgrade the system as different protein dyes are commercially launched, means Dyversity offers an affordable and precise alternative to laser-based scanners for generating perfect images of 1D or 2D protein gels.”