{"id":1328,"date":"2020-01-29T16:01:40","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T16:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/priorclavena.com\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2020-01-30T21:36:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T21:36:30","slug":"autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/","title":{"rendered":"Autoclave tape: &#8220;Don&#8217;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;Had an undergrad who &#8216;autoclaved&#8217; stuff from our lab by drawing black lines on the autoclave tape with sharpie and moving it to the clean area. When I noticed the tape looked funny, I knew exactly what had happened, and nearly died laughing.&#8221; [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/labrats\/comments\/6zo1er\/a_colleagues_autoclave_mishap\/\">source<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> Laughable? Most certainly! But also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/labrats\/comments\/5i32gn\/some_intelligent_being_did_the_autoclave_like\/db7sbsb\/\">more common than you think<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/labrats\/comments\/36o7e3\/this_picture_was_taken_somewhere_between_the_last\/\">much<\/a> more common. And potentially dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Take the Time to Explain Autoclave Tape<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> We need to remember that <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Autoclave_tape\">autoclave tape<\/a> isn&#8217;t intuitive to work with. It has no household equivalent\u2014and autoclaving itself is often treated like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2019\/01\/10\/the-number-one-contaminant-in-your-research-lab\/\">pixie magic<\/a>\u2014even by otherwise quite competent researchers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> According to Philip Berriman, an instrumentation technician at California State University (Fullerton), you really do have to slow down for a moment and be sure everyone working in your lab understands: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">&#8220;Just because autoclave tape changes color, that doesn\u2019t mean it&#8217;s sterilized\u2014it just means the outside of the item has reached the temperature of interest. It doesn\u2019t mean the core of your sample has, and it doesn\u2019t mean that the coldest part of your sample has held at the required temperature.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> The tape can even give a false sense of security, because even more important than temperature is <i>steam saturation<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> &#8220;It can be at the temp you need, but if it\u2019s not saturated with steam, it takes something like 16 hours [to sterilize] \u2026 instead of 15 to 20 minutes. It\u2019s that incredible energy from saturated steam versus dry air that makes an autoclave so magical. All this tape says is that this has been in the autoclave and someone turned it on. That\u2019s all you know. You don\u2019t know it\u2019s sterile.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> <b><i>BONUS<\/i><\/b>: This thread offers some good tips for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/labrats\/comments\/82z5nl\/if_you_have_a_hard_time_removing_autoclave_or\/\">easily removing gooey old steamed-on autoclave tape<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Had an undergrad who &#8216;autoclaved&#8217; stuff from our lab by drawing black lines on the autoclave tape with sharpie and moving it to the clean area. When I noticed the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[389,73],"tags":[388,361,355,109,137,365,74,68,390,391,76,31],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-safety","category-lab-autoclaves","tag-autoclave-tape","tag-autoclave-tips","tag-best-practices","tag-biohazard","tag-biosafety","tag-lab-best-practices","tag-lab-practices","tag-lab-safety","tag-lab-supplies","tag-lab-techs","tag-pipette-tips","tag-safety"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Autoclave tape: &quot;Don&#039;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Autoclave tape: &quot;Don&#039;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;Had an undergrad who &#8216;autoclaved&#8217; stuff from our lab by drawing black lines on the autoclave tape with sharpie and moving it to the clean area. When I noticed the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Priorclave - United States\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3072\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"4096\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Priorclave North America\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Priorclave North America\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Priorclave North America\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760\"},\"headline\":\"Autoclave tape: &#8220;Don&#8217;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"autoclave tape\",\"autoclave tips\",\"best practices\",\"biohazard\",\"biosafety\",\"lab best practices\",\"lab practices\",\"lab safety\",\"lab supplies\",\"lab techs\",\"pipette tips\",\"safety\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; Safety\",\"Lab Autoclaves\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/\",\"name\":\"Autoclave tape: \\\"Don't Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":3072,\"height\":4096,\"caption\":\"plastic pipette tips pose unique challenges\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/29\\\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Autoclave tape: &#8220;Don&#8217;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Priorclave - United States\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760\",\"name\":\"Priorclave North America\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Priorclave North America\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.priorclave.com\\\/en-us\\\/author\\\/dnelson\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Autoclave tape: \"Don't Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Autoclave tape: \"Don't Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!\"","og_description":"&#8220;Had an undergrad who &#8216;autoclaved&#8217; stuff from our lab by drawing black lines on the autoclave tape with sharpie and moving it to the clean area. When I noticed the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/","og_site_name":"Priorclave - United States","article_published_time":"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3072,"height":4096,"url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Priorclave North America","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Priorclave North America","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/"},"author":{"name":"Priorclave North America","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760"},"headline":"Autoclave tape: &#8220;Don&#8217;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&#8221;","datePublished":"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/"},"wordCount":303,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg","keywords":["autoclave tape","autoclave tips","best practices","biohazard","biosafety","lab best practices","lab practices","lab safety","lab supplies","lab techs","pipette tips","safety"],"articleSection":["Health &amp; Safety","Lab Autoclaves"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/","name":"Autoclave tape: \"Don't Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-29T16:01:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T21:36:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/01\/pipette-tips-autoclave-tape-WHAT-scaled.jpg","width":3072,"height":4096,"caption":"plastic pipette tips pose unique challenges"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/2020\/01\/29\/autoclave-tape-dont-trust-the-tape-or-the-techs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Autoclave tape: &#8220;Don&#8217;t Trust the Tape\u2014or the Techs!&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/","name":"Priorclave - United States","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/#\/schema\/person\/8b31c12dd95522a519b919985d6ce760","name":"Priorclave North America","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddd164285c295da8fea40f7681fa8d17154184cce1ab962d04b0178d94f9e445?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Priorclave North America"},"url":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/author\/dnelson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.priorclave.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}