QIAxcel Connect System

Fully automate the fragment analysis and quality control of up to 96 samples per run with QIAxcel Connect. This capillary-electrophoresis instrument uses ready-to-run gel cartridges that eliminate tedious gel or consumable preparations. It also reduces handling errors.

Various QIAxcel Kits meet your specific needs (see  High versatility with multiple kits):

• High-resolution genotyping
• Fast single or multiplex PCR screening
• QC of cell-free DNA
• NGS library QC
• Fast single-amplicon analysis, such as HLA typing
• RNA quality checks

And if you want to monitor your runs from outside the lab, you can connect to the optional QIAsphere system on your instrument and phone.

QIAxcel Connect uses prefilled gel cartridges to perform automated capillary electrophoresis. Simply place samples and buffers into the instrument and start the run. The tips of the gel cartridges move into the sample wells. An electric field creates a positive charge. This makes the negatively charged nucleic acid fragments migrate through the gel in the capillaries, with the smaller fragments travelling faster than the larger ones.

Within the capillary, a dye intercalates into the nucleic acid. As the fragments pass a detector, it measures the signals emitted by the dye. The QIAxcel ScreenGel software converts these signals to digital data; you can see them in real time as electropherograms or gel images (see  Cartridge-based gel electrophoresis).

Turn on the instrument and put in the buffer tray filled with buffer and markers. Insert the QIAxcel Gel Cartridge and your samples into the instrument. Select your analysis protocol and run the samples. See your results in real time, displayed on your QIAxcel ScreenGel user interface (see  Plug-and-play electrophoresis).

QIAxcel Connect is highly suitable for analysis and quality control of:

• Next-generation sequencing (NGS) libraries
• Low-concentration samples, such as liquid biopsy
• Degraded samples, such as formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue
• Multiplex PCR products with high-resolution requirements

The QIAxcel ScreenGel software runs on the laptop that comes with your QIAxcel Connect. It uses a system wizard to make experiment setup and run checks easy. Then it displays results according to user preference, whether individually or in overlay view for easy comparison. It can also display multiple peak properties (such as height and width of each peak, and number of peaks) in table format. All this data can be readily saved and exported from the software, making it easier to generate reports.

To get objective measurements and easily determine RNA quality and integrity, the QIAxcel ScreenGel software uses the RNA Integrity Score (RIS) system. RIS has a high correlation with RIN (R²=0.9229) (see  Correlation of RIN and RIS) but is more reliable in predicting qRT-PCR assay outcomes when RNA is degraded, for instance, by UV or formalin.