NCJ Number
187617
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2001 Pages: 341-345
Date Published
March 2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The application of resolution measurements to an electrophoretic system can give a quantitative analysis of the health of that system; the current study examines the effects that polymer concentration and column length have on resolution; methods are also described that allow the investigator to monitor resolution and perform routine quality control on the system and reagents used in the DNA electrophoresis process.
Abstract
A number of methods are available to evaluate resolution; three methods were used in this study. The capillary electrophoresis unit used for this study was an ABI PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer. Resolution measurements were conducted with a digital caliper to obtain peak widths, heights, and distance measurements between peaks from printed, similarly scaled electropherograms. The caliper was used to obtain accurate measurements for the comparisons performed. The study concludes that resolution measurements can provide an evaluation of the health of the capillary electrophoresis system. Through resolution monitoring, it can be determined whether the electrophoretic run and all reagents used in the process have performed as expected. The number of procedures for the evaluation of system resolution detailed in this paper should lend flexibility in implementation to any laboratory interested in tracking resolution for the purposes of quality assessment. 5 figures, 1 table, and 8 references