Dr. Grace Dzido, MD is an internal medicine doctor who practices in Roanoke, VA. She is 54 years old and has been practicing for 19 years.
The Loading Dye * Loading dye is a colored buffer mixed with the DNA prior to loading onto the gel. The loading dye contains a relatively high concentration of either glycerol or sucrose. This makes the solution more dense than the surrounding running buffer so that when a sample is pipetted over top of a well it sinks down into the well.
If your water is very hard, your dyes will work much better if you add a water softener, such as sodium hexametaphosphate (the active ingredient in the original Calgon). You can order this product, often under the name Metaphos, from your dye supplier. Use it also when washing your clothing after dyeing.