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www.us-tech.com
September 2023
Custom Coated vs. Pre-Coated Well Plates
By Del Williams
ery, and diagnostic testing. Although many are inexpensive consumables, an increasing per- centage require more sophisti- cated surface modification and functional coatings from labware manufacturers. This surface modification aims to improve the adhesion or proliferation of anti- bodies, proteins, cells, and tissue and improve the signal-to-noise ratio for high-resolution testing with less target material or markers required. Unfortunately, there are
E
limitations to this approach. Pre- coated well plates are expensive, and the functional coatings may only suffice for more straightfor- ward research or testing require- ments. A more customized solu- tion is often required for cutting- edge R&D and diagnostic test development. When this is the case, an
increasingly popular alternative is contract services that can apply functional coatings opti- mized explicitly for the applica- tion. In this arrangement, inex- pensive, uncoated labware is purchased and delivered to the contract service provider for plasma treatment. Surprisingly, this approach often lowers coat- ed labware costs while providing high-quality standards. The sav- ings can increase at higher pro- duction volumes, given the con- tract service providers’ ability to scale up and move to higher- capacity plasma treatment tools.
Plasma Treating Well Plates Well plates are a standard
tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing labora- tories. The “wells” that function
ach year, billions of well plates are manufactured for research, drug discov-
as small test tubes are used to perform many tests at a time while keeping the test environ- ment the same. Well plates are manufac- tured using polystyrene primarily
energetic species such as elec- trons, ions, radicals, neutrals, and radiations. When enough energy is added to a gas/ monomer, it becomes ionized into a plasma state in which the collective prop-
groups. The surface treatment can also enhance the analyte wetting of wells, facilitate cell proliferation without clumping, reduce the serum, urine, or reagent required for testing, and lower the risk of overflow or cross-well contamination.
Creating Custom Coatings When problems occur with
uncoated or off-the-shelf well plates that inhibit research or production, researchers or man- ufacturers often utilize contract services from a provider like PVA TePla; they are skilled in applying these types of function- al coatings which can speed the time to market and eliminate the need to invest in equipment and expertise in-house. Working with an experi-
Contract services deliver optimized functional coatings.
because the material is stable and allows for the long-term contain- ment of chemical compounds. It is biologically inert and provides good optical clarity. Other poly- mers like polypropylene, polycar- bonate, and sometimes glass are used for applications that must withstand a broad range of tem- peratures, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for DNA amplification. However, untreated syn-
thetic polymers are extremely hydrophobic, providing inade- quate binding sites for cells to anchor effectively to their sur- faces.
As a result, plasma treat-
ments are used to solve problems with well plates that are difficult to be resolved in other ways. Plasma is a state of matter, like a solid, liquid, or gas consisting of
erties of active ingredients can be controlled to clean, activate, chemically graft, and deposit a wide range of chemistries into well plate coatings. For vitro diagnostic sub-
strates, treating the well plate with plasma can improve adhe- sion promotion and conjugation of bioactive molecules; this is done by providing a particular chemical functionality at the sur- face, allowing covalent coupling of biochemical species to occur. Amino, carboxylic, hydroxyl, and epoxy functionalities are readily obtainable chemistries using gas plasma surface treatment. Biomolecule attachment,
survivability, and proliferation can be improved on well plate surfaces using plasma to create a hydrophilic surface using hydroxyl, carboxyl, or amine
enced contract services provider also has tremendous advantages when tapping into years of tech- nical expertise. In many cases, PVA TePla has already devel- oped solutions to similar chal- lenges. This experience can speed development efforts signif- icantly. Companies like PVA TePla are also accustomed to working under strict NDAs since customers often do not want to disclose more information about their specific research than nec- essary. Some contract services
providers provide access to on- site research and development equipment and engineering expertise. PVA TePla, for exam- ple, often invites labware manu- facturers to visit its lab in Corona, California, to run parts and conduct experiments on in- house equipment, with complete customer involvement. The cus- tomer can access Ph.D. scientists
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