Tips to Help Keep Your PCRs Contamination Free

Did you ever set up your PCR and waited restlessly for it to finish so that you could get a fine piece of the result, but all you got was a disappointment? This happens because of PCR contamination. Do not worry; this is something very common in the laboratory, and finally, there are measures available to eliminate the chances of contamination.

PCR is an extremely efficient and sensitive technique that is used in the laboratories. PCR contamination may be considered a helpful practice, but it could affect the end results too. If the sensitivity of PCRs carried forward in another reaction, it could provide misleading results, and it would be impossible to rectify the influence of PCRs.

In order to get the most accurate results in your lab, you should follow the best lab practices. In this blog, you will know the tips to help you keep your PCRs contamination free.
Identify the source of contamination.
Before solving any problem, you should first identify it. Similarly, if you want to eliminate the PCR contamination, you need to first identify the contamination source in your lab.
There could be two possibilities for contaminations taking place, the lab environment or the reagents.
Keep a check on your laboratory environment.

The first step that you need to do is start investigating the laboratory environment to detect the source of PCR contamination. Go through all of the environmental equipment to check for PCR contamination.

Take help from a bleach solution or a DNA-away to eliminate any element of contamination that could be present in your lab equipment. Here is a list of all the equipment that you can check:

● Centrifuge tubes
● Pipettes
● Benchtops
● PCR tubes
● Racks
● Vortex
● Thermocycler lid and buttons
● Flask
● Beaker
● Petri dishes

Everything that you find in your lab needs to be cleaned before starting with a new experiment. Additionally, make sure to get new filter tip boxes and sterile PCR tubes to minimize the environmental factors.

Keep a check on your reagents.

Once you have checked all the environmental measures, you can move on to the reagents. You need to be careful and remember which reagent has been previously used. Take each reagent and replace it with a newly opened one; this will help you in identifying the same reagent that influenced the results.

Dedicate the equipment to PCR

Contaminated results can compromise the entire research. Taking this into account, it is essential to dedicate a set of equipment, such as pipettes, centrifuge tubes, and other necessary items, to PCR testing. This way, the confounding of the results can be avoided.

Have separate storages

The key to avoiding PCR contamination in the future is to place your PCR reagents and PCR equipment separately.
Change your gloves
One of the most important ways to avoid contamination is to use a clean pair of gloves while conducting the experiment. In doing so, you can reduce the possibility of contamination due to the impurities present in the gloves.

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