Manual centrifuge equipment for 96-well PCR plates

icon Manual centrifuge equipment for 96-well PCR plates

 Usually, an electric centrifuge is used to spin down solutions in a 96-well PCR plate. However, electric centrifuges do not accelerate rapidly and occupy considerable space on a laboratory bench. An online literature search yielded a description of a device that utilized a salad spinner to spin down solutions in a 96-well PCR plate. Inspired by this example, we created a similar manual centrifuge for two 96-well PCR plates. This equipment has several advantages over conventional electric centrifuges for 96-well PCR plates. First, our manual centrifuge accelerates more rapidly than a conventional electric centrifuge. Second, you do not need to place the centrifuge in the allocated space on a laboratory bench. When not in use, our manual centrifuge can be easily stored under the bench. Third, because of its ultra-light weight, this centrifuge for 96-well PCR plates can be effortlessly retrieved from storage when necessary.
1. Construction of a manual centrifuge for 96-well PCR plates
  1. Acquire a suitable salad spinner.
    You should select a salad spinner of a sufficient size so that it can accommodate two 96-well PCR plates.
    One example is the Petit chef Jr. salad spinner C-750 (PEARL METAL Co., Ltd.) (cost, ~2,000 yen)
  2. Cut out a piece of polystyrene foam to fix two 96-well PCR plates inside the salad spinner(See the photograph).
  3. Place the polystyrene foam into the bottom of the salad spinner.
2. Advantages
  1. Our manual centrifuge for 96-well PCR plates accelerates faster than the electric centrifuge.
  2. Our manual centrifuge is operated by simple rotational movements.
  3. When not in use, our manual centrifuge can be stored under a laboratory bench.
 ref.1) Ken Motohashi 
  "A simple and fast manual centrifuge to spin solutions in 96-well PCR plates"
Methods Protoc. 3, 41 (2020)
 
       
         
 
 
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