End User Research

You are generating experimental results and support these results with appropriate evidence like biological controls. Assurance of full trace ability is not necessarily required, but quality approval of the used equipment is more then welcome. Due to the differences in the experiments, and the experience of users, you will use DRIFTCON more as a tool to understand, explain and support differences in the generated PCR results, based on the temperature performance of cyclers. Brand to brand differences, as well as differences in performance within the same brand can be monitored and explained. You typically use the outcome of the DRIFTCON measurements to adjust the temperature profiles of different cyclers and so assure the generation of similar results on different machines. You are using your DRIFTCON knowledge for future cycler purchases. DRIFTCON is typically used on a monthly base.

Threshold settings are used to compare the temperature performance of the cycler against (pre) defined thresholds.

Instruments thresholds settings (for a specific instrument and block type) are provided with the purchase of a DRIFTCON system. Other individual specific threshold settings may be purchased as software “ad on” (option). The provided specific instruments thresholds are extracted from the global database, which contains measurements from the same brand and type of machine. The provided threshold values are mean values plus or minus 2 x the standard deviation of the values (equals 95% of the population). You may adjust these by generating differently defined instrument threshold settings. Furthermore, you may request your cycler manufacturer to provide you with the instrument threshold settings.

Your kit manufacturer may recommend the regular use of a DRIFTCON system to exclude variations in results, generated by a lack of performance of the used cycler. A kit manufacturer may even require seeing the thermal DRIFTCON profile of the used cycler prior to the acceptance of kit claims.

Your instrument may be performing out of “instruments specs” provided by CYCLERtest. Please request latest specifications by synchronising to our general database.

Users of commercially available kits may request kit manufacturers to provide prescribe threshold set(s) for temperature accuracy and block uniformity of the kit and/or cycler.

Although the application thresholds are much more difficult and time consuming to design, they are superior to instrument thresholds. In other words: one is comparing if the cycler used to run an application is suitable for this application. If an end user is using a commercialised (diagnostic) kit (PCR, LCR, Real-Time PCR, RT-PCR etc) he or she may request the temperature profile thresholds from the kit manufacturer. If you, as a kit manufacturer, are not yet able to provide temperature thresholds for your kit, you may consider using our discussion forum at the specific DRIFTCON website: www.driftcon.com or (if available) join one of the application threshold settings discussion groups.