The E-Gel Electrophoresis System is a convenient, self-contained system for gel electrophoresis. The system uses precast, prestained agarose gels contained within a disposable plastic cassette, which eliminates the need for buffers.
One of our users, Wim Ensink, has made a clever adaptation to enable him to use his Bento Lab with an E-Gel system.
Wim has the E-Gel iBase Power System, an early version of the current E-Gel Simple Runner Electrophoresis Device. He modified a banana plug cable by adding a barrel jack, which allows him to connect the E-Gel system to the Bento Lab electrophoresis output.
Credit: Wim Ensink, University of Amsterdam
“The E-Gel system runs from the Bento Lab. In my opinion, this is really handy, especially for those who have little experience in the lab.”
The E-Gel system is run by a power supply that provides an output of 48V DC, with a current of 0.8A. The Bento Lab supplies an output starting at 50V DC, and Wim noted, “the Bento Lab measures enough current draw at 50V to power the E-Gel”.
Credit: Wim Ensink, University of Amsterdam
The E-Gel agarose gels are available in a variety of formats, from different stains to different agarose percentages. Wim tested running the set-up with both a 0.8% and 2.0% E-Gel, and both worked well.
Credit: Wim Ensink, University of Amsterdam
The version of E-Gel system that Wim has is a discontinued model, which has been replaced by the E-Gel Simple Runner Electrophoresis Device, and a more expensive option, the E-Gel Power Snap Electrophoresis Device. If you are interested in experimenting, you can also get ahold of older E-Gel systems on eBay from $50+.
Wim thinks it may be possible to make the same adaptions for the current models. “I don’t know if it would also work with the newer type of E-Gel systems, but if the adapter specs are the same, then it probably would.”
For best results with the Bento Lab blue light transilluminator, we would recommend using the E-Gel with SYBR Safe DNA Gel Stain.
