Misc electroporation protocol links

[Taku Tokuyasu]

[ I just saw Christopher's 'Day of Electroporation' notes on Trello, which look great.
The stuff below might be helpful for background or if we get stuck; also tips on details, e.g. how much solution to put into the cuvette. ]

Here's a couple links I found during last night's electroporator warmup session:

1) http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/methods/2007-August/102458.html
Electroporation optimization guide.
Vadim A. Klenchin, University of Wisconsin

2) http://www.geneworks.com.au/library/ML052_Protocol.pdf
Ingenio Electroporation Kits and Solution

As usual we should take the advice contained therein with a grain of salt (pun not intended).  The above two guides are focused more on mammalian cells.  Klenchin is on the Web here.

From Klenchin

•  low amplitude/long duration voltage pulses are better. (There is a critical voltage/cm we must exceed though to make the pores)
• we may need to mess around with electroporation medium and voltage settings (points 8 and 9)
• as we optimize the protocol, we need to electroporate in the presence of DNA.  DNA purity, contaminants (chemical, bacterial, etc.) are concerns

The Mirus guide gives suggestions on post-electroporation incubation times (12-48 hours), some hints that might help if things go hopelessly wrong (e.g. checking for Mycoplasma), etc.

I wish we had better control of the electroporator voltage peak height. But we might get lucky with our current setup (1 kV is probably just right).