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We Need Sustainable Labs for Sustainable Research
The global consensus on climate change has grown increasingly dire. Nonetheless, a shocking percentage of “sustainable research” is done in labs that do not operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. […]
Bad Benchtop Autoclave Installations
Sometimes a bad benchtop autoclave installation is pretty straightforward: That drain valve looks pretty good—it’s taped, they’ve used a quality ball valve (which is much more reliable over the long […]
Lab Autoclave Procedure Best Practices: The Futility of Foil
There are many justifications for crimping foil loosely over the mouths of containers before autoclaving. The most common—and seemingly most reasonable—is that this common autoclave procedure keeps viable spores from […]
*Gobble gobble!*🦃
Being headquartered in the American Midwest, we’re taking the day off. To all of our U.S. customers, have a happy, restful, and well-fed Thanksgiving—and to all of our customers […]
Autoclave Procedure: Four Rules for No-Mess Liquid Sterilization
As we’ve discussed before, the best autoclave procedure for running liquid loads is trickier than just loading up the autoclave and choosing the “liquid cycle.” Follow these four rules and you’ll largely […]
Autoclave Sterilization Tips: Abandon All Foil, Ye Who Pass This Way!
We need to talk about your autoclave sterilization rituals and aluminium foil. Specifically: Do not use aluminium foil when sterilizing empty beakers and flasks! Loosely crimping foil over the mouths […]
Research Lab Autoclave Best Practices: The Liquid Cycle Won’t Save You
Every modern research lab autoclave has a “liquid cycle”—a cycle just for processing liquids, growth media, and so on. Nonetheless, more often than not, if you fill a bunch of […]
Research Lab Autoclave Safety: Sealed Bottles are Bombs
In August of 2001 a research lab autoclave was processing tightly capped 178 bottles using a 30-minute liquid load. The autoclave began making unusual sounds, so a trio of lab […]
Top Tips for Autoclaving Pipette Tips
You don’t have to spend much time in a research lab to learn that pipette tips have a nasty habit of stubbornly clinging to a little bead of water. Some […]
Sterilizing Vivariums Can Be Easier Than You Think
The miniature biome of a vivarium is a great way to isolate variables in animal research. But life is messy and vivariums can be a pain to get clean and […]
Research Lab Autoclave Safety: Bad Doors and Autoclave Explosions
WARNING: These are disturbing pictures of research lab autoclave accidents. There is blood. What happened? A lab tech loaded an older-style autoclave, began the cycle, and walked away to […]
Reducing Lab Autoclave Cycle Times for Liquids
Power users are resigned to the fact that there are no “standard” lab autoclave cycle times (especially for liquids!) They know that a little planning and programming can generally prevent autoclave […]