Hi, I had some experience for about 2-3 years with the BioRad systems before I moved on and they worked just fine like the AKTAs. At the time, the price point was a huge plus over the AKTA Pure and in my opinion for protein purification there was no reason to fork out the money for an AKTA Pure because you would never use the two pumps anyway. We had the NGC quest with multi wavelength detection for protein labeling, which worked fine. I liked the NGCs a lot, they were reliable, and I would be happy to get one any time.
In the meantime, Cytiva has released the AKTA Go, which is a scaled down version of the Pure with only one pump. And I would give this one a thought if you only want to purify proteins. It is a great (!) little system for protein purification and the price is very reasonable in my opinion. Our version with the additional inlet sample valve (allows for scouting over night), air detector (very convenient when loading large lysate volumes on IMAC columns), and column valve was in the region of 20-25k. You also have the choice between a simpler fraction collector and the one from the AKTA Pure. The only caveat is that they only offer a fixed wavelength detector. After two years, we had not a single fault (they have been on the market for 2.5-3 years). I very much like the Unicorn software. I hope this helps, Stephan. Stephan Rempel, PhD Senior Scientist, FoRx Therapeutics AG ---------------------------------------- Lichtstrasse 35, WSJ-350.3.10 4056 Basel, Switzerland stephan.rem...@forxtherapeutics.com<mailto:stephan.rem...@forxtherapeutics.com> www.forxtherapeutics.com<http://www.forxtherapeutics.com/> [cid:image001.png@01D8C9D1.8E327950] From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> On Behalf Of Marko Hyvonen Sent: Friday, 16 September 2022 13:17 To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] off-topic: experience BioRad NGC vs Aekta Pure Hello Eike, A couple of comments on the AKTA Pures (while I have not experience with the BioRad systems). We have a couple of AKTA Pures and we (and another lab close to us) had a catastrophic failure of the 3-wavelength detector “block”. Price tag for the replacement part (apparently a black box with nothing accessible for repair – happy to hear if this was misinformation!) was over £12,000. Someone commented that they had even more eye-watering price tag for an upgrade to triple wavelength. We switched to a single wavelength detector at £5k and I will get these from now on only. I really dislike the database system used in new Unicorn for storing data etc: another black box. I much prefer the way older Unicorns worked, but maybe that is just me being old and grumpy and stuck in my ways. That reminds also that we tend to source computers separately. Much better systems available for less money and with MUCH smaller footprint. The price tags on Pures (like almost everything else with Cytiva) are in my opinion a reflection of the market dominance. I wish there was more competition (bring back Biocad!). Service contracts with Cytiva are also ridiculously expensive – we have, luckily, a very knowledgeable company here that does all the servicing and maintenance, at less than half the price. Having just complained, I do like AKTA Pures and there is much to like in them. Time will tell if these will be as robust as the original “grey” AKTA purifiers. Several of ours Purifiers still running perfectly after over 15 years. As long as the detector works and flow is accurate, the proteins elute just the same from the columns. However, once you have even one of the shinier systems around, those old ones start collecting dust very soon. Hth, Marko ---- Marko Hyvonen Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge https://hyvonen.bioc.cam.ac.uk @HyvonenGroup mh...@cam.ac.uk<mailto:mh...@cam.ac.uk> From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>> On Behalf Of Schulz, Eike-Christian Sent: 16 September 2022 08:40 To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> Subject: [ccp4bb] off-topic: experience BioRad NGC vs Aekta Pure Dear all, I am considering to purchase a chromatography system for routine protein purification. The device is supposed to be used in a multi-user environment, hence ease of use, ease of training and ease of maintenance is important. I am rather looking for a robust system people like to use than a system that comes with many bells and whistles that no one dares to touch. · Is there any particularly _bad_ experience with either system? · Is there any specific advantage of one system over the other? · Does anyone have experience about (long-term) stability / performance of the systems? · Do you think the higher price-point of the Aekta systems is justified? 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