PCR Cabinets

A PCR cabinet or PCR workstation is a vertical laminar flow cabinet that is adjusted for the use of PCR equipment. It provides a downflow of filtered air to protect your experiment from cross-contamination with air contaminants. PCR cabinets always have an UV lamp to decontaminate the cabinet from RNA and DNA between 2 PCR cycles.

A PCR cabinet is in principle the same as a vertical laminar flow cabinet, but with a few adjustments:

• Reduced height: when doing PCR, you don’t need a lot of height. In fact the manipulations around PCR involve mainly pipetting, which is done at work surface height.
• Optimized for quick UV decontamination. UV decontamination is very efficient to destroy RNA and DNA. For that reason, it is useful to have a quick method of activating the UV lamp between 2 PCR cycles. During the UV decontamination, the sash window must be closed to protect the operator. A PCR cabinet has a sash window with hinges that can easily be closed. When the sash window is closed, the UV lamp is automatically activated to start the UV decontamination.
• Electrical sockets and other items that are not resistant against long routine UV exposure are not present in PCR cabinets.
• PCR cabinets typically also have shelf close to the UV lamp. Pipets can be put on the shelf for decontamination.

Both cabinet types have an UV lamp and are optimised for a quick activation of UV decontamination. A PCR cabinet or PCR workstation has a downflow of filtered air, that protects the experiment against cross contamination with the air. A dead air box does not have this. A dead airbox is simply a cabinet with a UV lamp, and does not offer any form of protection of your experiment against air contaminants when the cabinet is open.

Download the brochure Esco PCR Cabinet
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