09/14/2017
The Tip of the Iceberg: How Pipette Tips Influence Results - How to Save Money at the Wrong End
Muriel Art, Vincent Dufey, Eppendorf Application Technologies S.A.
Ulrike Gast, Eppendorf SE
With some manufacturers' tips it makes a difference if in serial pipetting (e.g. calibration), a new tip is used for each pipetting or if the series is pipetted using only one tip. This influence on the pipetting result is caused by variations in pipette tip quality. Eppendorf pipette tips were found not to influence the pipetting results regardless if tips were changed or not.
Introduction
When performing a pipetting series, have you ever thought about using one tip for the whole task or a new tip for each pipetting?
When performing a calibration, the international standard ISO 8655 advises to use a new tip for each measurement. But is this really needed? In the previous parts of this series, we have already shown that tips can influence the pipetting result by shape, perfection of the tip's orifice geometry, and certain methods like autoclaving. In this study, we show that the tip-totip quality, meaning the uniformity of tips within one box, between boxes, and between batches is an important influencing factor.