Summary:
Are you one of those lab professionals who spend hours each day holding a micropipette? Or do you run a laboratory and are constantly faced with the question of how to improve pipetting efficiency or how to guarantee reliable results? If so, choosin......
Are you one of those lab professionals who spend hours each day holding a micropipette? Or do you run a laboratory and are constantly faced with the question of how to improve pipetting efficiency or how to guarantee reliable results? If so, choosing the right type of pipette can be the key to the success of your job. It not only ensures your experimental performance, but also increases your efficiency.
This article guides you through the most important considerations for reliability, efficiency, and ergonomics:
Factors that improve reliability
Scientists rely on pipettes to provide accurate and repeatable pipetting results to ensure the success of their experiments. Consider the physical properties of the liquid (aqueous, viscous, volatile) as well as the accuracy and precision of the pipette to improve pipetting results.
Physical properties of liquids:
Most liquids are aqueous, making air displacement pipettes the first choice. Although most liquids work well with this pipette type, if you are working with very viscous or volatile liquids, you may want to consider a volumetric pipette.
For maximum pipetting accuracy and precision, we recommend that you review the following standards:
Transfer volume:
As a rule of thumb, always choose the smallest pipette that can handle the required volume. This is important because accuracy decreases as the set volume approaches the minimum volume of the pipette. For example, if you dispense 50 µl with a 5,000 µl pipette, you will get pretty poor results. Better results can be obtained with 300 µl pipettes, and 50 µl pipettes are ideal.
Easy calibration:
Your micropipette should be easy to calibrate. Some electronic pipettes have useful features such as setting calibration reminders or saving calibration history.
Are you wondering if your pipettes are still working as expected? Follow these guidelines to perform routine inspections.
Volume adjustment lock:
The volume set on traditional manual pipettes can change during pipetting due to unintentional plunger rotation. However, some pipette manufacturers have developed volume adjustment designs to prevent inadvertent volume changes while pipetting.
High-quality pipettes and tips:
Have your pipette tips ever loosened, leaked or fell off? This is a common problem in the laboratory and is caused by the use of universal pipette tips. Such tips require "tapping," which stretches the edge of the pipette tip. This can cause tips to leak or misplace, or even cause the pipette tips to fall off the pipette completely! Choosing a micropipette designed with the tips ensures a secure connection and the tips won't leak or fall out.
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