1 1 iGEM Wageningen 2019 Gel purification allows you to isolate and purify DNA fragments based on size. The procedure starts with standard agarose gel electrophoresis, which separates DNA by their length in base pairs. Following electrophoresis, you can cut DNA bands out of the agarose gel and purify the DNA samples. Gel purification is most efficient with lower % agarose gels, so you will want to stay in the 0.7-0.8% range if possible. You will want nice crisp bands. This can be achieved by

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... ng a wider gel comb and running the gel at a lower voltage. You will want to have enough space around each band to cut without having DNA in other lanes contaminating your sample. To accomplish this, it is best to skip lanes between samples and between the ladder and nearest sample. To minimize the risk of DNA damage, it is best to limit the UV exposure of the DNA. Therefore, it is a bad idea to use a gel imager to take a picture of the gel before cutting out the bands and you will want to use long-wavelength UV for as short a time as possible to get the bands cut out. Thermo Fisher 1 Once you have run your gel, move it to an open UV box (be sure to wear proper UV protection -especially for your eyes!), remove it from any gel tray as plastic will block much of the UV and with a clean, sterile razor blade, slice the desired DNA fragment from the gel. 'Note ' 'Note ':To protect the UV box, it is a good idea to place the gel on a glass plate if available. Unlike the plastic tray, this will not significantly reduce the UV, but will protect the UV box from being cut by the razor blade.