Storm 840 imager
The Storm is a laser-based imaging system for storage phosphor, chemifluorescent, and direct blue fluorescent samples. It replaces conventional x-ray film autoradiography which has a limited dynamic range, making accurate quantification impossible. In the storage phosphor mode, special screens which have been exposed to a radioactive gel are scanned using a laser beam. The resulting high-quality image can be easily analyzed using the ImageQuant software.
The most popular application of the fluorescent mode is the direct visualization of Western blots. The use of x-ray film is again circumvented and the image is sent directly to the computer for simplified analysis. The fluorescent mode can also be used for the analysis of green fluorescent protein samples and nucleic acid or protein gels that have been stained with SYPRO or SYBR dyes.
The GE Storm 840 Imager and workstation computer are housed in 490 RAL and available to trained users 24 hours a day.