Mastering Pipette Techniques: Tips and Tricks for Accurate Liquid Handling

Mastering Pipette Techniques: Tips and Tricks for Accurate Liquid Handling

Overview

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  • Source: Microbioz India

  • Date: 23 Oct,2023

Whether you work in a chemistry, biology, or clinical lab, mastering pipette techniques is essential for precise liquid handling in lab environments. For accurate data and repeatable outcomes, precise measurements are necessary.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you improve your pipetting skills:

Select the Correct Pipette:

  1. Decide on the pipette that best fits your volume range. For microliter (L), millilitre (mL), or other particular volume ranges, different pipettes are constructed.
  2. For extreme precision and simplicity of usage, utilize digital or adjustable pipettes.
  3. Prepare for pre-pipetting by making sure your pipette is clean and calibrated.
  4. To maintain accuracy, regularly calibrate your pipette.
  5. Using the adjustable dial or digital display, adjust the pipette’s volume to the appropriate level.
  6. In order to avoid contamination, make sure your hands are clean and dry.

Also read:

  1. Pipetting in Microbiology: 5 Things You’re Forgetting
  2. Proper Pipetting: 5 Tips to Improve Your Pipetting
  3. Top 10 tips to avoid contamination in pipetting
  4. Guide to Error-free Pipetting: All you need to know
  5. Learn from These Mistakes Before You Learn Pipetting
  6. Precision and accuracy of pipetting are influenced by a number of factors

Suitable Pipette Advice:

  1. Make use of top-notch pipette tips that fit snugly without gaps or air leaks on the pipette.
  2. Change tips immediately after use to avoid cross-contamination.
  3. To guarantee correct volume delivery, pre-wet the tip with a tiny amount of liquid before aspirating, especially with viscous materials.

The proper way to pipet:

  1. Ensure that the pipette is always vertical and angled at 90 degrees to the liquid’s surface.
  2. Dip the tip into the liquid just below the surface without going too deep or too shallow.
  3. To draw in the liquid, depress the plunger slowly and steadily. Avoid aspirating quickly, which could cause air bubbles to form.
  4. Check that the liquid level is above the desired volume mark to avoid errors brought on by the creation of a meniscus.
  5. To prevent splashing and give the liquid a chance to settle, let the pipette sit before dispensing.

Eliminate air bubbles:

  1. Release the plunger slowly to remove any air bubbles. If the pipette has a blowout feature, use it.
  2. To release air bubbles that have become trapped, lightly tap the pipette tip’s side.

Controlled and Slow Dispensing:

  1. In order to reduce splashing and maintain precision, dispense the liquid gently and steadily.
  2. To stop liquid from running down the outside of the tip, touch the tip to the interior wall of the receiving vessel.

Tip ejection:

  1. To prevent handling used tips, utilize a specialized tip ejection device if one is provided.
  2. Properly dispose of tips by adhering to the instructions for disposing of laboratory waste.

Keep Cross-Contamination at Bay:

  1. To avoid contamination, swap out the tips on the pipettes or rinse them between each sample.
  2. If at all possible, separate pipettes for each reagent to reduce the chance of contamination.

Keep Your Consistency:

  1. For reproducible results, develop a reliable pipetting technique and use it consistently.
  2. Take breaks and give your hand some time to rest to prevent weariness from impairing your technique.

Recordkeeping:

  1. Keep thorough notes of the quantities, samples, and chemicals you utilized in your research.
  2. Take part in routine quality control inspections to confirm the precision and accuracy of your pipettes.

Pipette methods require effort and close attention to detail to master. You can increase your accuracy and precision when handling liquids with pipettes with consistent practice and attention to best laboratory practices, which will ultimately result in more reliable and reproducible experimental results.

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