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Equipment designed to transfer nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) samples typically from an agarose gel onto a membrane (e.g., nylon, nitrocellulose, polyvinylidene difluoride-PVDF ) or less frequently to a filter or treated paper (i.e., blotting) after a gel electrophoresis procedure, a procedure that separates the molecules according to the charge and size. The transfer is performed using a vacuum process, that is a variant of the capillary process transfer. These blotters typically include a vacuum pump or are connected by a hose to a central vacuum system; they also include a vacuum plate and a sealed chamber to perform the procedure. IVD nucleic acid blotters are intended to provide in an immobilized matrix an identical copy of the electrophoretic pattern present in the gel allowing the performance of a wide range of analytical procedures. Vacuum nucleic acid blotters are used in tests usually known as southern or northern blots, for DNA and RNA respectively.
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