Thermal Cycler Service for Excellence

However, in the rare occurrence when an instrument does fail, it inevitably leads to a work downtime that spans for days, if not weeks. When a PCR malfunction, the relevant PCR thermal cycler service personnel needs to be contacted, the visiting time needs to be coordinated on-the-fly, the malfunctioning device needs to be disinfected, packed, and sent back to the manufacturer, then queued for troubleshooting and fixing. In other words, it will be many days before its owner get to see his dearly needed device to complete that project which was due yesterday again.

Such undesirable circumstances can be avoided through regular maintenance of PCR thermal cyclers. The most cost- and labor-effective method of maintenance is through contracting preventive maintenance service plans at appropriate interval (e.g. annually or quarterly according to usage intensity).

Qualification/ certification services such as Installation Qualification (IQ) and Operational Qualification (OQ) support common Quality Management requiremenets, e.g. according to ISO 9001/ISO 17025, while temperature verification services ensure that the instrument is working according to manufacturer’s specification. With these, the users get the assurance that the devices are not only functioning but also functioning accurately.

Temperature verification services commonly come in two forms – in-house (i.e. on-site in the lab) verification by lab’s own technician or contracted service technician, or off-site verification at manufacturer’s facility. Apart from the standard preventive maintenance service option offered by qualified service technicians, in-house temperature verification can also be performed easily using end-user temperature verification tools such as the Eppendorf Temperature Verification System (TVS) T6. The TVS T6 allows fast and easy temperature verification of PCR thermal in a short span of 15 min, thus avoiding interruption in work schedule and low-downtime. However, not all manufacturers support such independent service options. Many PCR thermal cycler and temperature-controlled instrument manufacturers require lab users to send their devices back to their own service facilities for maintenance.

Properly and regularly maintained PCR thermal cycler not only provide users with confidence in safety and ensure smooth operation in the lab, but also facilitates audit preparation. This is especially so for regulated labs. Users in ISO-accredited labs or people who work in accordance to ISO 17025 or ISO 15189 are familiar with issues regarding certificates and documentation. Hence, they know to request and contract (IQ/OQ) validation, as well as budget for annual preventive PCR thermal cycler maintenance services to ensure consistent instrument performance. They also know to look for the degree of documentation support in the instruments that they plan to purchase, such as usage, error and maintenance log files, as well as run protocols. Similarly, for consumables, it is important that documents such as lot-specific certificates are available.

With such considerations in mind, the Eppendorf Mastercycler^® X50 family is equipped with a comprehensive documentation & service functionality (device info, events, notifications, maintenance tracking, qualification, run protocol, certificate, etc.) complete with exportable function (PDF via USB).

Similarly, Eppendorf PCR consumables are available in different purity grades with appropriate certification to meet the relevant standards required by the respective field of applications or regulatory environment (e.g. forensic).