BioTechniques Top 5: free apps for DNA sequencing and PCR

Written by Francesca Lake (Editor-in-Chief)
General interest Lab design and machinery News PCR and sequencing
Free apps for lab users phone data

The phones in our pockets are becoming more and more powerful – and thus more capable of aiding us in our DNA sequencing and PCR experiments. Here we’ve rounded up the BioTechniques teams’ top 5 apps in DNA sequencing and PCR – whether it be for performing the experiments themselves, learning about PCR and sequencing, or just a bit of scientific fun while you’re waiting for an experiment to run!

iGenomics

Author: Aspyn Palatnick (NY, USA)

Rating: 5* on Apple, not available on Android

Launched last year, iGenomics was hailed as the ‘world’s first DNA “tricorder”’. Developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY, USA), this free app pairs with Oxford Nanopore’s MinION sequencer and is designed for use in remote locations – it might even go to space. The iGenomics app allows users to align reads, call variants and visualize results all on the mobile device.

Prime It DNA Game

Author: University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK)

Rating: 5* on Apple, 4.8* on Android

One for a bit of fun – this sequencing game is aimed at students, to help them understand PCR primer design. However, novices and experts alike can test their primer designing speed and accuracy!

Sanger sequencing

Author: Thermo Fisher Scientific (MA, USA)

Rating: 5* on Apple, 4.3* on Android

For all those using capillary electrophoresis, this free app from Thermo Fisher includes How-to videos for every step of the Sanger sequencing workflow, educational bite-sized FAQ videos from Seq It Out, recent app notes and access to DNA Sequencing by Capillary Electrophoresis, Applied Biosystems Chemistry Guide, 3rd edition (2016)!

QIAGEN App

Author: QIAGEN GmbH (Hilden, Germany)

Rating: 5* on Apple, not available on Android

This free app from QIAGEN is designed for daily work in the lab – allowing you to set not one but multiple lab timers, as well as providing tables of lab buffers and solutions, and calculators for conversion and dilution. It also includes protocols for QIAGEN PCR and NGS technologies, among others.

PCR Quest – PCR Match Lab Game

Author: Thermo Fisher Scientific

Rating: 4.9* on Apple, 5* on Android

Another fun one, this time from Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this free take on a match-3 game, users ‘travel from lab to lab crushing the world’s toughest diseases’ – a perfect time-waster while you’re waiting for your real-world experiments to run! This app isn’t just for fun, though – it also provides PCR tips and resources.