Springtime may have come and gone, but it’s never too late to start your spring-cleaning! As a matter of fact, with a little bit of elbow grease and a lot of patience, you can restore your silver block 9700 thermal cycler to pristine condition. This is routine procedure when SeqGen performs preventative maintenance on the thermal cycler, but we are more than happy to share our trade secret!
As most people are aware, silver can tarnish over time when exposed to oxygen. After time, your lower block can end up looking like this:
This is not a guarantee of bad block performance, but tarnish on the block can affect temperature accuracy and uniformity when you are amplifying your DNA samples. Restoring the block to perfect condition is inexpensive and as easy as cleaning a piece of jewelry, although it can be time consuming.
All you’ll need to clean your block are cotton swabs and standard tarnish remover you pick up at the nearest grocery store (we’ve been using Tarn-X). Simply take a swab covered in tarnish remover and start to clean the block, well by well. This can be a little tedious, but it’s the only way to guarantee your block is completely clean.
Although a little bit of tarnish won’t make or break anything, keeping the block clean can ensure quality results. Not to mention, after a little swab and Tarn-X action, your Gene Amp 9700 will shine like the top of the Chrysler building.
