How to Choose the Correct Pipette for your Laboratory?

 

A pipette is an indispensable tool in any laboratory, be it chemistry, drug discovery, forensic, neuroscience, food, clinical, and many other life science labs. Pipette simplifies liquid handling process and the appropriate one will provide you with accurate results each time. However, there are various factors that go into selecting the correct pipette.

If you are buying the pipette for the first time, then this guide will help you narrow down your choices.

Types of Pipettes

There are a few basic types of pipettes like the transfer pipettes, serological pipettes, mechanical, and digital pipettes. Here we talk about the different types and what you might use them for.

Transfer pipettes

Transfer pipettes are disposable and designed for the reliable and convenient transfer of liquid samples. As they are disposable, thus, there is no chance of cross-contamination offering you reliable results. Transfer pipettes are made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and are available in extensive selection of capacities and various lengths to accommodate different industry needs.

Serological pipettes

Serological pipettes are a clear choice for accurate measurements. They are used in the laboratory to transfer milliliter volumes of liquid, from less than 1 ml to up to 50 ml. These pipettes are made of polystyrene (PS), designed with anti-drip tips, have aerosol barrier plug, RNase and DNase free, and calibrated to deliver precise amount of sample. They are available in various sizes including 1 ml pipette, 5 ml, 25 ml, and 50 ml.

Mechanical pipettes

Mechanical pipettes are valued for their ergonomic design, ease of use, and reliability. Therefore, they are used for various liquid handling tasks in research institutes, universities, pharma labs, healthcare, and industrial laboratories. These pipettes feature adjustable dispensing volume control, smooth plunger, tip ejector, and tip cone that make frequent pipetting easy minimizing fatigue. Mechanical pipettes are available as single and multi-channel form.

Digital pipettes

Digital or electronic pipettes offer fast, precise, and comfortable pipetting. Their ergonomic design makes them very easy to use. The pipettes have motorized piston with built-in error control to improve precision and provide reliable results. It also has 3 speeds for aspiration and pipetting and a high-quality, high-performance battery operation allows rigorous use during busy times in the laboratories. A bright display makes setting and reading easy, thus eliminating errors.

Once you know the pipette types, next thing to look into is your application type.

What your application involves?

The crucial element of selecting the right pipette is analyzing the application and the type of process. Depending on what type of samples you will be working with, you have a couple of choices, air displacement and positive displacement pipettes.

The air displacement pipette is driven by a piston. When you push the plunger, the piston moves down allowing the air to move out. When you release the plunger, a vacuum is created that draws the desired volume of liquid into the tip. It is ideal for aqueous samples or standard pipetting applications.

Positive displacement pipette is also driven by a piston, but it is in direct contact with the liquid to be pipetted. The tip in this pipette is a microsyringe composed of capillary and a piston that displaces the liquid. The absence of air cushion makes positive displacement pipette ideal for use with radioactive, corrosive, dense, and viscous samples and used for DNA amplification and PCR techniques. 

These are just a few of the lab pipettes available for your needs. It is not always easy to figure out which equipment is best but getting advice from a professional can help. Get in touch with the experts at Microlit today and purchase the right pipette for your laboratory.