Bio-Rad Trans-Blot® Turbo™ Transfer System - Manual (Page 13)

Section 1: Introduction
Semi-dry western blotting is a common technique in many research and diagnostic laboratories.
Conventional semi-dry blotting protocols are often cumbersome, requiring a great deal of time-
consuming reagent preparation and setup, followed by an electrophoretic transfer that could take up to
an hour or more. Bio-Rad’s Trans-Blot Turbo system accelerates the semi-dry blotting process without
sacrificing performance. With the Trans-Blot Turbo system, transfer time is reduced to as little as 3
minutes, and the prepackaged transfer packs provide excellent transfer efficiency and reproducibility
while eliminating the time and mess associated with traditional transfer methods.
The Trans-Blot Turbo system is comprised of the main instrument with two blotting cassettes and
single-use prepackaged transfer packs that contain buffer-saturated membranes and ion reservoir
stacks.
Each blotting cassette has a built-in pair of anode and cathode electrode plates and can accommodate
one or two mini format (7.0 x 8.5 cm) gels or a single midi format (13.5 x 8.5 cm) gel. Closed cassettes
lock to hold a gel in contact with a transfer membrane placed between two ion reservoir stacks. The
loaded cassettes are simply inserted into the instrument to access the power supply for protein transfer.
A preprogrammed user-defined transfer protocol is easily selected from the firmware menus using the
Navigation and Selection buttons and the alphanumeric keypad. During the run, transfer conditions and
run progress are displayed on the LCD screen.
The buffer saturated ion reservoir stacks and membrane are available as ready-to-use prepackaged,
disposable, single-use Trans-Blot Turbo Transfer Packs in two sizes, for transfer of single mini gels
(7.0 x 8.5 cm) and a larger size (13.5 x 8.5 cm) for transfer of midi gels or simultaneous transfer of two
mini gels (7.0 x 8.5 cm). Both the mini and midi transfer packs are available with either nitrocellulose or
PVDF membranes. These prepackaged transfer packs allow for efficient transfer in as little as 3 minutes.
Gels can be transferred immediately after electrophoresis without equilibration. The reagents and
consumables available in the transfer packs are also available in ready-to-assemble format, as part of
the Trans-Blot Turbo RTA transfer kits. The system will also accommodate traditional semi-dry western
blotting consumables such as filter paper and Towbin buffer with efficient transfer in 30–60 min.
Selection of transfer protocols is simple and the system is designed to handle multiple sequential runs
with no intervals of delay except for the reloading of the cassettes.
Fig. 1 Trans-Blot® Turbo™ blotting system.
Tech Support: 1-800-424-6723 • www.bio-rad.com 1
Trans-Blot® Turbo™ Blotting System