General Information

Serial #

1-101

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

PCR machine, Thermal cycler

Patents

N/A

General Description

Steel casing and screws with a hard black synthetic hinged cover on top and a synthetic covering over the control panel on the proper front

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

28.2 cm

Width

24.2 cm

Height

23.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Chemistry

Category

Laboratory equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

MJ

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Massachusetts

City

Waltham

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

British Columbia

Period

1990's

Canada

This is one the earliest commercial PCR machines used in Canada. It was brought by Dr. George Mackie from Western University to UBC in the early 1990s, when Nobel Prize winner Michael Smith was also doing fundamental work in this area.

Function

To amplify and sequence DNA strands using Polymerase Chain Reaction.

Technical

This may have been one of the first models to use Peltier Junctions. (From Artifact worksheet)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Control panel on proper front reads: "Programmable Thermal Controller/ CAUTION/ Block may be/ VERY HOT!/ Use FUNCTION key/ to select option/ then press ENTER"/ [LOGO]/ "MJ RESEARCH, INC."/ Vertical indicator strip with words "heating" above and "cooling" below/ small circular indicator light labelled as "power"/ display panel with blue border and white lettering labelled: "Program Step Block Temp/ Cycle Time Slope"/ Blue and white number pad [numbers 0 to 9, with "." and "-"]/ next to number pad are four buttons in a vertical line, that read: "CLEAR/ ENTRY"/ "FUNC-/TION"/ "REVIEW"/ "ENTER"/ Bottom proper left corner of proper front is a silver coloured plate that reads: "Hypercell/ Biologicals"/ On proper left side of object are three stickers: one reflective silver coloured sticker that reads, in English and in French: "SPECIAL INSPECTION SERVICE/ CANADIAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION" and a number printed vertically on the proper left of the sticker "B 326405"/ A blue and silver coloured sticker that reads: "MODEL PTC-100-6/ VOLTS 115/ HZ 60/ S/N 1-101/ AMP 3/ FUSE 115V3A/ MAXIMUM FUSE CAPACITY 3 AMPS/ HYPERCELL BIOLOGICALS/ 613-584-3311 (1545)"/ An off-white sticker with blue lettering and a black printed number: "THE UNIVERSITY OF/ WESTERN ONTARIO/ 085198/ EQUIPMENT INVENTORY"

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Object has a black and off-white coloured casing. It has a black front panel with white lettering, blue and white buttons and a blue area with with labelling around the indicator panel.

Decoration

N/A