Well-to-Well variation in qPCR amplification curves is suggestive of dysfunction in thermal cycler heat block

Modern quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) instrument typically has a 96 well heat block where the PCR tubes are placed for thermal cycling. With time and continued usage, there may be faster degradation of some wells relative to others, thereby, resulting in ineffective heating in some wells over others. This effect will manifest in different temperature cycling for different wells, which will likely result in different qPCR curves. Thus, observation of different qPCR amplification curves for different wells for the same experimental conditions is suggestive of dysfunction of the thermal heat block, or a more serious malfunction in the main system board that controls the temperature cycling of the heat block. This work presents a couple of representative amplification curves indicative of the effect.