{"id":2900,"date":"2024-06-13T20:17:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T12:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentrons.com.cn\/?post_type=knowledge2&p=2900"},"modified":"2024-09-03T11:16:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T03:16:43","slug":"rhsyzdhtsrxhyjssj","status":"publish","type":"knowledge2","link":"https:\/\/opentrons.com.cn\/en\/knowledge2\/rhsyzdhtsrxhyjssj\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save time in the lab with an automated benchtop thermal cycler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The time-saving evolution of PCR technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference between using an automated thermal cycler with and without a liquid handler platform is the recovery time. What would you do if you had six extra hours in the lab?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like life itself, modern biotechnology is based on the ability to precisely copy DNA. Biologists hijacked the nucleic acid replication machinery built into cells to create the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a cornerstone method of modern molecular biology, allowing them to copy DNA on their own. In 1983, Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis showed that you could manipulate the replication of a target DNA sequence by coordinating the sample with a precise sequence of temperatures. At the time, conducting PCR experiments meant scientists spent hours manually moving test tubes in and out of water baths at different temperatures to achieve these temperature cycles. In 1988, Celtis and Perkin-Elmer introduced a device called a thermal cycler to automate the precise temperature changes required for PCR experiments. It is faster and more efficient than the water bath method, but costs more than $100,000\u2014far beyond the reach of most biologists. Most labs didn't start using thermal cyclers until the mid-1990s, when companies like ML Laboratories began making more affordable machines with heated lids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n