How To: Perform agarose gel electrophoresis in the lab

The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta brings you this video tutorial specifically relevant to your student laboratory courses, specifically microbiology. If you're a student at any school of biology, this information will be helpful for learning how to perform agarose gel electrophoresis in the lab.

Part A: Set up the gel apparatus. Notice that we test the depth of the wells with the spacer - the small side will fit under the teeth of the comb easily while the larger side does not.

Part B: Obtain some molten agarose, swirl gently (avoid bubbles), making sure the aragose is warm to the touch but not too hot. Pour the molten agarose in apparatus, let cool.

Part C: Remove comb and put gel into the running box. Pour buffer on top of the gel.

Part D: Load samples carefully and start electrophoresis.

Part E: Notice how the dye has been separated into three bands. In this experiment, the direction of travel was from right (the cathode) to left (the anode).