Operating Procedures and Policies

Our genetic specialist is on hand to provide feedback and support. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

We regularly run controls to check the status and operation of our instruments. Our facility employs a scheduled maintenance of instrumentation and runs calibration standards to ensure quality and precision.

Contaminants (proteins, RNA, salts, buffer, phenol, ethanol, detergents and unlabeled DNA templates) interfere with the sequencing reaction and injection, resulting in a reduced lifespan of our capillaries. Your template and primer must be free of contaminants and suspended in water or 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0. Do not use EDTA; it acts as a chelating agent that binds the polymerase co-factor Mg2+ and causes sequencing reactions to fail. Please review our Protocols & Guidelines page for further information on how to prepare your samples.

The Genetics Lab will not be held responsible for failed product related to poor preparation of the template or failure of the user to provide appropriate sequencing primers. However, we will re-run a sub-set of samples free of charge should there be any concerns with your results, and if our positive control fails.

Sample tubes must be labeled legibly and the submission form filled out completely. For fragment analysis, ensure that the plate record is filled in correctly - the machine will not process samples with an incomplete plate record.

Sequencing results are generally completed in 24-48 hours. Turn around time will be delayed if samples are not delivered early enough in the day to reach a good storage point in the protocol.