The Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) service provides the equipment and infrastructure necessary for the molecular characterization of microorganisms using this molecular biology technique.

For this purpose, the electrophoresis equipment CHEF-DR® III System (BIO-RAD), thanks to the Clamped Homogenous Electrical Field (CHEF) and Dynamic Regulation (DR) technology, allows fast, reproducible and high resolution DNA fragment separation, in the range of <50 Kp-2 Mb. The operating system of PFGE consists in alternating the electric field between spatially distinct pairs of electrodes, which causes large DNA molecules (Mb) to reorient themselves and move at different speeds through the agarose gel.

In the field of Food Safety, it allows carrying out the genetic characterization of microbial isolates, being ideal for epidemiological studies of foodborne pathogens.

Sectors of interest:

• Food safety services and laboratories
• Food quality control services and laboratories
• Public health services and laboratories
• Molecular epidemiology services and laboratories
• Genomics services