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3 Reasons why you should use the Warp Animation in REDFIN Solo
Posted by ludesi in How to's in REDFIN, Tips and Tricks
“2D gel image analysis is sometimes more of an art than a science.”
Have you heard statements like this one before? Actually, it’s not so far off the mark, as it can be very difficult to define clear rules for achieving great 2D gel image analysis results that will apply to every 2D gel experiment.
Saying that though, we can make our lives easier by using well thought through software and tools that are designed to help us get the best out of our gels.
One of these tools is the Warp Animation window in the REDFIN Solo software. It is really only a minor tool but used in the right way, it can impact both the speed of getting good image analysis data as well as the quality of the data itself.
If you haven’t seen the Warp Animation before, here’s a quick video showing what it looks like:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2kCOID04HU&hl=en&fs=1&]
Basically, it takes your warp reference image and the image you are warping to it and blends in and out between the two, in the form of an animation.
Here are three reasons why you should get into the habit of using the Warp Animation more regularly whilst you are warping.
1. Spot poorly aligned areas faster
The human eye has been design to react strongly to movement. Visualizing spots that have not been properly aligned via lateral movement is like pointing a big spotlight on any potential problem area. Using the Warp Animation you can hone in to these areas and fix them in less time than it takes to process a static image.
2. Get an early glimpse of protein expression changes
Whilst poorly aligned spots are indicated by lateral movement, protein spots that have a significant difference in volume appear to be pulsating. So, if you are warping two samples that you later wish to compare to each other, you may want to take a glimpse at the Warp Animation to see if you can already spot any differences between the two. Of course, only areas in the gel that have been adequately warped will potentially show pulsating spots.
3. Incorporate a quality control step in your warping
How well the images have been aligned will heavily impact the results further downstream of a REDFIN Solo analysis. It is therefore advisable to spend that extra little bit of time on the warping step in order to ensure that you have achieved the best alignment possible between your gels. The Warp Animation can help you with this. When you have completed the warping, open up the Warp Animation and flip through all your warp pairs. Without spending too much time you will quickly be able to get a feel for the quality of the warping in your project.
Why not go and check out the Warp Animation right now on your own gels? Remember, it doesn’t cost anything to try out an analysis of your 2D gels in REDFIN Solo.
If you don’t have REDFIN installed yet, you can download it for free on our website.
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