Invitrogen Qubit 4 User manual

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
Qubit™4 Fluorometer
Catalog Number Q33226
Publication Number MAN0017209
Revision A.0

ii Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
DISCLAIMER: TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC AND/OR ITS AFFILIATE(S) WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, MULTIPLE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING FROM
THIS DOCUMENT, INCLUDING YOUR USE OF IT.
Revision history:MAN0017209
Revision
Date
Description
A.0 05 October 2017 New user guide.
Important Licensing Information: This product may be covered by one or more Limited Use Label Licenses. By use of this product,
you accept the terms and conditions of all applicable Limited Use Label Licenses.
Manufacturer: Life Technologies Holdings Pte Ltd | Block 33 | Marsiling Industrial Estate Road 3 | #07-06, Singapore 739256
Trademarks: All trademarks are the property of Thermo Fisher Scientific and its subsidiaries unless otherwise specified. Kimwipes is
a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
© 2017 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. All rights reserved.

Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide 1
Contents
About this guide............................................................................................................3
1. Product information ................................................................................................5
Product contents.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Product description......................................................................................................................................... 6
Instrument exterior components ................................................................................................................... 7
Product specifications ..................................................................................................................................... 8
2. Getting started ........................................................................................................9
Set up the Qubit™4 Fluorometer................................................................................................................... 9
Optional: Configure instrument settings..................................................................................................... 11
Guidelines for using the Qubit™4 Fluorometer ........................................................................................ 16
3. Perform assays .....................................................................................................17
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 17
Optional: Use Reagent Calculator to prepare Qubit™Working Solution ............................................... 18
Calibrate assays on the Qubit™4 Fluorometer .......................................................................................... 20
Read samples ................................................................................................................................................. 24
Results............................................................................................................................................................. 26
Fluorometer mode ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Ion Sphere™Assay......................................................................................................................................... 31
4. Manage data..........................................................................................................32
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 32
View detailed sample data........................................................................................................................... 32
Rename data files........................................................................................................................................... 35
Export data ..................................................................................................................................................... 36
Delete data...................................................................................................................................................... 39
5. Manage, import, and create assays.......................................................................40
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 40
Manage assays ............................................................................................................................................... 40
Show/Hide assays ........................................................................................................................................ 41
Move assays ................................................................................................................................................... 43
Import assays ................................................................................................................................................. 45
Create your own assay for the Qubit™4 Fluorometer.............................................................................. 50
6. Instrument maintenance.......................................................................................51
Maintenance and cleaning............................................................................................................................ 51
Software updates ........................................................................................................................................... 52
Device verification test ................................................................................................................................. 54

2 Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide
Appendix A: Troubleshooting...................................................................................... 55
Troubleshooting............................................................................................................................................. 55
Critical Qubit™Assay considerations ......................................................................................................... 57
Appendix B: Ordering information.............................................................................. 59
Qubit™4 Fluorometer and accessories ....................................................................................................... 59
Appendix C: Safety......................................................................................................60
Symbols on instruments ............................................................................................................................... 60
Safety labels on instruments ........................................................................................................................ 61
General instrument safety ............................................................................................................................ 62
Chemical safety.............................................................................................................................................. 63
Chemical waste safety................................................................................................................................... 64
Electrical safety .............................................................................................................................................. 65
Biological hazard safety................................................................................................................................ 66
Safety and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) standards ................................................................. 67
Documentation and support .......................................................................................69
Obtaining support ......................................................................................................................................... 69

Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide 3
About this guide
Overview
This user guide describes how to operate the Qubit™4 Fluorometer.
User
documentation
The guides listed below are available with the Qubit™4 Fluorometer.
Guide Pub. No.
Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide MAN0017209
Qubit™4 Fluorometer Quick Reference Card (QRC) MAN0017210
Additional resources are available on the Qubit™Technical Resources page. Go to
thermofisher.com/qubit to access protocols, application notes, and tutorials.
Text and keyboard
conventions
Text and keyboard conventions used in the Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide are
listed below. For safety alert words and symbols used in Thermo Fisher Scientific
user documentation, see page 4.
Convention Use
Bold Bold text indicates user action. For example:
Click Run.
Right arrow symbol () indicates a menu choice, and
separates successive commands you execute or select from a
drop-down or shortcut menu. For example:
Select SettingsInstrument settings.
User attention
words
Two user attention words appear in Thermo Fisher Scientific user documentation.
Each word implies a particular level of observation or action as described below.
Note: Provides information that may be of interest or help but is not
critical to the use of the product.
IMPORTANT! Provides information that is necessary for proper
instrument operation, accurate installation, or safe use of a chemical.

4 Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide
Safety alert words
Four safety alert words appear in Thermo Fisher Scientific user documentation at
points in the document where you need to be aware of relevant hazards. Each
alert word—IMPORTANT, CAUTION, WARNING, DANGER—implies a
particular level of observation or action, as defined below:
IMPORTANT! – Provides information that is necessary for proper
instrument operation, accurate installation, or safe use of a chemical.
CAUTION! – Indicates a potentially hazardous situation that, if not
avoided, may result in minor or moderate injury. It may also be used to
alert against unsafe practices.
WARNING! – Indicates a potentially hazardous situation that, if not
avoided, could result in death or serious injury.
DANGER! – Indicates an imminently hazardous situation that, if not
avoided, will result in death or serious injury. This signal word is to be
limited to the most extreme situations.
Except for IMPORTANT! safety alerts, each safety alert word in a Thermo Fisher
Scientific document appears with an open triangle figure that contains a hazard
symbol. These hazard symbols are identical to the hazard symbols that are affixed
to Thermo Fisher Scientific instruments (see “Safety symbols” in Appendix C).
SDSs
The Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for any chemicals supplied by Thermo Fisher
Scientific are available to you free 24 hours a day. For instructions on obtaining
SDSs, see “Safety Data Sheets (SDS)”.
IMPORTANT! For the SDSs of chemicals not distributed by Thermo
Fisher Scientific contact the chemical manufacturer.

Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide 5
1. Product information
Product contents
The Qubit™4 Fluorometer is shipped with the components listed below:
Component Quantity
Qubit™4 Fluorometer 1 each
Universal Power Cord with 4 adaptor plugs
(for U.S./E.U./U.K./Australia)
1 each
USB drive (includes the user guide) 1 each
Qubit™4 USB cable 1 each
Qubit™4 Fluorometer Quick Reference Card (QRC) 1 each
Certificate of Conformity (COC) 1 each
Qubit™screen cleaning cloth 1 each
The complete user guide is also available for download at thermofisher.com/qubit.
See page 6 for the description and specifications of the Qubit
™
4 Fluorometer.
Upon receiving the
instrument
Examine the instrument carefully for damage incurred during transit. Ensure that
all parts of the instrument, including the accessories listed above, are included with
the product. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; the warranty does not
cover in-transit damage.
See page 9 for instructions to set up the Qubit
™
4 Fluorometer.
Register your
instrument
Go to thermofisher.com/qubit to register your instrument. You will be asked to
supply the serial number, your name, and your contact details. Registering your
instrument ensures that you will receive notifications of software upgrades and
information on new assays for use with the Qubit™4 Fluorometer.

6 Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide
Product description
Qubit
™
4
Fluorometer
The Qubit™4 Fluorometer is a benchtop fluorometer that can be used for the
quantitation of DNA, RNA, microRNA, and protein, as well as for the measurement
of RNA integrity and quality using the highly sensitive and accurate fluorescence-
based Qubit™assays. Additionally, Ion Sphere™Particle quality can be evaluated on
the Qubit™4 Fluorometer using the Ion Sphere™Quality Control Kit prior to
performing a sequencing run on the Ion Personal Genome Machine™(PGM™)
Sequencer. You can also use the Qubit™4 Fluorometer to directly measure the
fluorescence of samples or to create new assays using the MyQubit software pre-
programmed into the instrument.
Features
•
Fast and highly accurate quantitation of DNA, RNA, and protein in less than
3 seconds per sample.
•Measure percentage of intact and degraded RNA in the sample in less than
5 seconds per sample.
•High levels of accuracy using only 1–20 µL of sample, even with very dilute
samples.
•Use of dyes selective for dsDNA, RNA, or protein minimizes the effects of
contaminants in the sample.
•Stores results from up to 1000 samples.
•Large, state-of-the-art color touchscreen for easy workflow navigation.
•Graphically displays up to 20 data points for quantitation assays.
•Instrument indicates samples that are in the extended range or out of range in
the graph, as well as in the simple sample output screen.
•Saves sample data as a CSV (comma separated value) file.
•Exports data to a USB drive or directly to your computer via a USB cable.
•On-board Reagent Calculator provides instructions to prepare Qubit™working
solution using your sample and standard inputs.
•Allows easy definition and saving of assay preferences.
•Instrument user interface can be personalized to show only the frequently used
assays, to add new assays, including user-defined assays created with the
MyQubit software and web tool, and to display in the language of your choice
including English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, simplified Chinese and
Japanese.

Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide 7
Instrument exterior components
Top view
Back view
Touchscreen is the user interface containing the controls for all the functions
needed and displays data from the assays.
Sample chamber is used to load the assay tube containing the sample into the
fluorometer for analysis.
USB cable port (type mini-B) allows you to transfer your data directly to your
computer using the USB cable supplied with the instrument or any other similar
USB cable.
USB drive ports (Type A) allow you to transfer and save data to your computer
using the USB flash drive supplied with the instrument (or any other similar
USB drive) for record keeping and printing purposes.
Power inlet connects the Qubit™4 Fluorometer to an electrical outlet using the
supplied power cord and the appropriate plug, based on the electrical outlet
configuration in your country.

8 Qubit™4 Fluorometer User Guide
Product specifications
Physical
characteristics
Instrument type: Benchtop fluorometer
Instrument dimensions: 5.4 in (w) × 10 in (l) × 2.2 in (h)
(13.6 cm × 25 cm × 5.5 cm); rectangular shape
Weight: 26.2 oz (743 g)
Operating power: 100–240 VAC, 1.0 A/1.2 A
Frequency: 50/60 Hz
Electrical input: 12 VDC, 2.5 A
Installation site: Indoor use only
Operating temperature: 10–40°C
Operating humidity: 20–80% (non-condensing)
Technical
specifications
Dynamic range:5 orders of magnitude
Processing time: ≤5 seconds/sample
Light sources:Blue LED (max ~470 nm)
Red LED (max ~635 nm)
Excitation filters: Blue 430–495 nm
Red 600–645 nm
Emission filters: Green 510–580 nm
Red 665–720 nm
Detectors: Photodiodes; measurement capability from
300–1000 nm
Calibration type: 2- or 3-point standard
Tube type: 0.5-mL Real Time PCR (polypropylene) tubes
Warm-up time: <35 seconds
USB drive
Capacity: 4 Gigabyte