Lab Technique - Reverse Pipetting

[Formulator]

As I was doing my daily trace element dosing with my micropipette, I got to my extremely viscous 40% sodium silicate solution and proceeded as usual; switching my technique to reverse pipetting and confidently delivering the required 200 uL dose.

I have a background in biochemistry and learned this way of pipetting early in my career as a much more accurate way to pipette viscous liquids (in the absence of a positive displacement micropipette). It just occurred to me that the average hobbyist might not be aware of this useful technique so I decided to share. Hopefully it helps someone!

(A) In forward pipetting, press the plunger button slowly to the first stop outside of the solution to displace air and avoid blowing bubbles into it. Cautiously draw the plunger up gradually and follow the liquid to prevent drawing air. Press the plunger in the destination tube until the second stop to expel full volume from the tip (Courtesy Biology Open Educational Resources (Bio-OER), Open Lab at City Tech CUNY, USA and shared based on CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).​

(B) In reverse pipetting, depress the plunger button slowly to the second stop outside of the solution to displace air and avoid blowing bubbles into it. Cautiously draw the plunger up gradually and follow the liquid to prevent drawing air. Press the plunger in the destination tube until the first stop to expel the sample and discard the tip with the remaining solution in the waste container (Modified based on the source from Biology Open Educational Resources (Bio-OER), Open Lab at City Tech CUNY, USA and shared alike based on CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)​

https://www.researchgate.net/public...ntal_Prerequisite_in_Good_Laboratory_Practice

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you for sharing this!