hekp with sigmacoat and sequencing gels

[Jeffrey Mahr]

I am relatively new to sequencing.  at first when pouring my gels i would 
clean them with detergent and a sponge, lay them flat on a tt rack and 
with no tape, pour the gel - this worked great until once when taking the 
apparatus apart the gel stuck to both plates and made a mess of it.  to 
try to prevent this i tried using sigmacoat on one plate and disaster 
struck (huge pockets where the acrylamide just WOULD NOT go - the 
location of which where not the same when i tried this 3 times in a 
row).  for my fourth attempt icleaned the plates using every dish washing 
solvent in the lab and did not use sigma coat - the same thing to a 
somewhat lesser degree happened again (i even tried taping halfway 
through and then bringing the plates vertical but the huge bubbles 
wouldn't budge despite my pouding on the plates)  i have heard mixed 
reveiws on sigma coat
	1.  will i ever be able to get the stuff off my plates
	2.  does anyone know of a way to use the stuff so that it works reliably
	3  does any one have  alternative ideas for helping me out????



sincerly - jamahr at ucdavis.edu