Since these machines are generally quite expensive, it makes sense that many labs and facilities have decided to rent or lease their thermal cyclers instead. Some of the thermal cyclers have gradient control, which can be helpful for a number of applications. However, it may not always be necessary. If you do need to have gradient control over your device, make sure that you rent or lease a machine that offers this option. In addition, consider the number of experiments that you plan to run at the same time. If you are a large facility, then you may want to rent or lease a much larger machine, or rent or lease several of the smaller ones. If you have only a small lab, then you will not need to rent or lease something overly large. You will be able to get the same benefit from a much smaller thermal cycler.

The thermal cycler will have spaces in the thermal block for the insertion of the aforementioned tubes. Larger models are able to hold more of the reaction tubes. The greater the capacity the more experiments you can run simultaneously. They will also have a control system that is directly on the device. The system is usually an easy to use LCD screen that offers simple instructions and easy to use controls.

The device features a thermal block. The block has holes in it, where the tubes that hold the reaction mixtures will be inserted. The scientist can then use the controls to increase or decrease the temperature in the block as needed. The device features preprogrammed steps that make it easy to move the temperature up and down in perfect, accurate increments. Many of the newer models have a heated lid as well. This presses down on the tubes to prevent condensation.

A thermal cycler, sometimes called a DNA amplifier or a PCR machine, is a common device found in a number of laboratories. Scientists who run PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, for their experiments will need to have at least one of these devices available. They are essential for sequencing, genotyping, cloning, mutagenesis, and much more. In fact, the device is useful for labs that need to create many other types of temperature sensitive reactions.

• DNA sequencing
• Research
• Biochemistry

• Perkin Elmer
• Bio-Rad
• Barloworld Scientific USA