Validation of PCR thermocycler performance is crucial to obtain reliable results. In this study, infrared (IR) thermography was evaluated as a novel validation tool. After stabilisation, no significant difference in the temperatures recorded using thermography and a reference block-based system was found. By employing IR thermography, information about the length of the time until temperature stabilisation in the sample could be obtained. This study shows the potential of using IR thermography for validation of thermocyclers. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.
Funding details: 036272; Funding text 1: Acknowledgement The authors thank the Nordic Joint Committee for Agricultural Research (NKJ) for the PhD grant to Hugo Ahlm Grønlund. This study was also supported by the European Union-funded integrated project BIOTRACER (contract no. 036272) under the sixth RTD Framework. Peter Rådström and Jeffrey Skiby are acknowledged for critical reading of the manuscript.