Experience with QuantStudio 3 qPCR system?

[laurahspencer]

Hi Roberts Lab hive mind ...

NOAA Kodiak is purchasing a qPCR system for their lab. They would like to start doing a few things on-site, including exploring expression of candidate biomarkers, genetic species ID (e.g. via TaqMan assay), and diagnosing Hematodinium infection (bitter crab disease).

They plan to purchase this QuantStudio 3 system: https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/quantstudio-3-real-time-pcr-system-96-well-0-2ml/A28137#?keyword=qpcr

I don't regularly run qPCR assays, so I'm hoping to get some input from those of you with more hands-on experience. Has anyone used this or other QuantStudio instruments? Any thoughts on reliability, ease of use, software, service/support, or issues/limitations they should be aware of before purchasing?

Thanks!

[kubu4]

No experience with that brand. My only experience is with Agilent and Bio-Rad qPCR systems.

However, my experiences with both of those systems have made it clear that they absolutely need to demo the machine before purchasing!

Hardware usually isn't much of an issue, but the software is! This is the primary interface for anybody using the machine, so the software should be pleasant to use.

Bio-Rad's software is relatively user-friendly and is remarkably robust, as it provides built-in data analysis.

In my experience, Agilent's software is always a terrible experience. Although I haven't used one of their qPCR machines in ~15yrs, we recently got a plate reader of theirs and the software is annoying/confusing. Their Bioanlyzer software wasn't the most enjoyable experience either...

Highly recommend they take the software through it's paces:

• How easy is it to set up a run?
• How quickly can a run be set up?
• Is it easy to create plate files?
• Can plate files be created via a spreadsheet?
• Any built-in data analysis?
• How intuitive is the data analysis procecure?
• What are the data export features?
• Does the software allow for individual user profiles?
• Are runs retrievable directly from the machine (i.e. if computer dies at some point, can data files still be recovered)?
• Etc. etc.

[kubu4]

Saw this on the product page:

Option 2: QuantStudio™ Design and Analysis desktop software
Supports traditional co-located computer system configuration on Windows™ 7 OS

If it really only supports Windows 7 (!!!!), then I'd definitely avoid.

[laurahspencer]

Do you have a favorite qPCR system, based on your experience?

That Windows 7 specification seems outdated, based on what I'm seeing on the software pages:

• https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/technical-resources/software-downloads/quantstudio-3-5-real-time-pcr-systems.html
• https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/pcr/real-time-pcr/diomni-design-analysis-software.html

[kubu4]

I mean, I'm biased towards Bio-Rad because that's what I'm most familiar with. With that said, I really do find the Bio-Rad software very easy to use, and it's very flexible.

There are some quirks that annoy me (spreadsheet import is annoying to figure out), but overall I really like it.

[laurahspencer]

Cool, thanks! We'll see what the opt for.