Saturday, September 4, 2010

What are Pipettes used and its role?

The most commonly used piece of laboratory equipment in any laboratory setting is the pipette. The pipette is an instrument with a long history of use and an equally long history of continual advancement in design, ergonomics and usability. Today’s pipettes often feature digital controls which allow for the high precision measurement of extremely low volumes of liquids which is absolutely essential in the modern laboratory environment.

pipettes are common instruments in any laboratory or quality control department where the workload demands on the frequent handling of small volume liquid samples. These instruments are extremely commonly used in the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and beverage production and other industries as well as in clinical research applications.This implement are used for the transfer of liquids or semi-solids from one container to the other, or for the precision measurement of liquids and semi-solids before transference. The precision is vital to nearly all laboratory techniques, just as much as the pipetting techniques themselves.

The transfer pipette is one of the most used pipettes in any scientific industry. These pipettes are manufactures in variable sizes, and can be graduated for rough measurement of liquids. They are usually made of polyurethane, and have a flexible plastic bulb for drawing up liquids. You can purchase sterile, individually wrapped pipettes for many uses. Pipettes come in a variety of sizes, volumes and materials. Glass pipettes are still used for scientific experimentation, but polypropylene is becoming the material of choice. Plastic pipettes are just as calibrated as the glass pipettes, and they are not susceptible to temperature changes as glass. The plastic pipettes are graduated and marked for better measurement, and there is usually a very well defined meniscus in the fluid being measured out.

Transfer pipettes are the most commonly used pipette in the world. They are usually made of polyethylene, and can come in a variety of bore and volume. These versatile implements can be graduated for "eyeballing" the fluid being transferred, since manufacturing denotes that the measurements are not precise. The transfer pipette consists of a soft bulb for sucking fluid up into the bore of the pipette. Specifically made to be disposed of after use, these pipettes come in large packages for the laboratory.

Graduated glass pipettes are needed for the precision pipetting of fluids for reagent setup or culture mixing. These precision pipettes can be vacuum assisted to eliminate mouth aspiration.
Bench top pipette systems for the precision delivery of reagents and chemicals into test tubes or corvettes are in use at a high level, as they give convenience for the laboratory personnel. This method can be used for large volumes of chemicals that get large usage during shifts, and most of these pipetting systems can be easily refilled. 

Robotic pipette systems are used by many biotech laboratories for the automation of many processes that would otherwise take up personnel time. This increases productivity, and can result in mass testing procedures. 

Plastic precision pipettes are designed to be affixed to a transfer suction bulb, or any manual aspiration device. These tools are graduated in precision increments, as in milliliters. Any other precision measurements are done with automatic aspiration devices, such as the handheld auto pipettes, which have precision control for aspiring down to micro liter volumes.

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