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New synthetic soil standards for elemental analysis
Elemental Microanalysis, a leading global supplier to the elemental analysis market, has developed a line of synthetic soil standards. Elemental’s synthetic soil reference material is made from pure mineral and chemical ingredients, blended to exactly match the elemental make-up of natural soils. The synthetic process provides multiple benefits to customers, including ingredient composition tailored to the needs of the scientific community.
Elemental’s initial soil standards are: a loamy soil standard (B2237), a high organic content soil standard (B2230), and a medium organic content soil standard (B2233). Elemental is developing additional synthetic soil standards to better mimic the range of natural soils previously collected, processed, and produced.
Creating synthetic soils leads to improved consistency across consecutive batches, compared to collected soils. Synthetic soils are also not subject to the same export legislation and control as irradiated natural soil, which simplifies import restrictions for hassle-free worldwide shipping.
More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/ZbEB 62257pr@reply-direct.com Pipetting precision advances lithium therapy toxicity research
Integrating cutting-edge technology, Integra Biosciences generously provided three PIPETBOY acu 2 serological pipette controllers to the 2023 iGEM Competition team at Technische Universität Braunschweig (TU_BS). These advanced controllers played a pivotal role in enhancing the precision of pipetting tasks, facilitating the team’s pioneering research in lithium therapy toxicity testing.
The project, known as Li+onSwitch, explored the development of a self-testing method for monitoring blood lithium levels at home. Daniel, a member of the 2023 iGEM team, explained: “A large part of our work included designing our own plasmid constructs and testing potential reporter systems, and we worked extensively with liquid cultures. We were very excited to receive the PIPETBOY controllers, and they quickly became essential daily tools in our lab, significantly speeding up our repetitive pipetting protocols. This huge cumulative time saving led to greater productivity, and freed us up to focus on other aspects of our research. The PIPETBOYs are also extremely precise instruments, so helped to improve the reproducibility and consistency of our many manual liquid handling tasks.”
The team’s outstanding achievements, including winning Best Diagnostics Project and receiving a gold medal, highlight the success of their diligent efforts and innovative approach.
Learn more about the Li+onSwitch project and Integra’s commitment to supporting the next generation of synthetic biologists. More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/NA7D
62260pr@reply-direct.com Cell disruption of microorganisms with mixer mills
Cell disruption is frequently the method of choice to extract cellular components from bacteria, yeast, fungi, or microalgae and is carried out either chemically or mechanically. Mechanical methods are better suited for cells with tough walls, or if the chemicals might affect the extraction and therefore need to be avoided. A common and effective method is bead beating which uses beads to shear the cells in a suspension. Bead beating can be done on a small or large scale, using different types of vials and tubes. One way is to mix the suspension with beads and use a vortex mixer. However, this procedure is slow and inconsistent, especially with a large number of samples or long disruption times. A better way is to use Retsch Mixer Mills with adapters which automate the process, making it fast, efficient and reproducible.
The MM 400 processes up to 20 samples in 1.5 or 2 ml Eppendorf tubes without cross contamination which saves time for the operator. Additionally, an adapter is available to accommodate up to eight 50 ml Falcon tubes. The optimal bead size for cell disruption varies based on the cell type; for bacteria and yeast, glass beads
ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 mm are recommended, while smaller beads within the range of 0.1 to 0.5 mm are more suitable for fungi and microalgae.
For DNA or RNA extraction, smaller single-use tubes up to 2 ml are ideal, whereas larger vials like the 50 ml Falcon tubes are well-suited for processing proteins or metabolites. The optimum bead beating parameters vary according to cell type. It may take some experimenting to find the best results. Usually, 30 s (most microalgae) to 7 min (yeasts in general) of bead beating are required to fully disrupt the cells.
More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/LoZA 62247pr@reply-direct.com
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