lab-essentials-discoveries

Discoveries can happen any day.

So you need to be prepared every day.


Discover the right technique


Isn’t all labware the same? No, and let us explain why

There are a lot of plastic labware choices, but the quality of your work often depends on using quality plastic labware. Even though they may look alike, not all labware products are created equal. Lower-cost alternatives come with a nice price, but remember that old saying, “You get what you pay for.”

Regulatory Standards:
High quality plastic labware must meet accepted ASTM and ISO accuracy standards and be made from laboratory-grade plastic materials that won’t leach impurities into your reagents and samples. Containers should provide guaranteed leak-proof performance to keep you safe from exposure and your work safely contained. 


5 Quick Tips | Select the right tip for your application


Watch | Ergonomic advice for the bench


Did you know...

there are no toxic additives in our Nalgene plastics that can leach out into your lab solutions and ruin your experiments?

Top 10

We use laboratory-grade plastic resin materials to make our products. Customers trust Nalgene products to look and perform perfectly every time and rely on us to provide them with products that are good enough for their important lab work.

Here are a few Nalgene "must-haves" for your bench.


Request a printed poster for your lab


 Improve Pipetting Accuracy with 10 Proven Steps

Aspirate and fully expel an amount of the liquid at least three times before aspirating for delivery. Failure to pre-wet the tip increases evaporation within the tip air space, which can cause significantly lower delivery volumes. Pre-wetting increases the humidity with the tip, thus reducing evaporation.

Allow liquids and equipment to equilibrate to ambient temperature prior to pipetting. The volume of liquid delivered by air displacement pipettes varies with the relative humidity and vapor pressure of the liquid – both of which are temperature-dependent. Working at a constant temperature minimizes variation of pipetted volume.

Before dispensing, carefully remove droplets from the outside of the tip by touching off the side of the reservoir, being sure to stay clear of the tip opening to avoid wicking liquid out of the tip. After dispensing, and before releasing the plunger, deliver any residual liquid remaining in the tip by touching the tip to the side of the container. Surface tension will help draw the remaining liquid out of the tip.

Depress the plunger to the first stop, immerse the tip into the liquid, and aspirate by releasing the plunger. Remove the pipette from the liquid and depress the plunger to the second stop to dispense the entire contents. Standard (or forward) mode pipetting yields better accuracy and precision than reverse mode for all but viscous or volatile liquids. Reverse mode often results in over-delivery. Hence, it’s recommended to evaluate the effect of possible over-delivery in the experiment and make adjustments if needed.

After aspirating, and before removing the tip from the liquid, pause for one second. Make this pause as consistent as possible. Liquid continues to flow into the tip for a short time after the plunger stops. At the same time, evaporation within the tip is occurring. Pausing consistently balances these two effects and ensures correct aspiration.

When aspirating liquid, hold the pipette vertically and pull the pipette straight out from the center of the reservoir. This technique is especially important when pipetting small volumes (less than 50µL). Holding the pipette at an angle as it is removed from the liquid alters the aspirated volume.

Hold the pipette loosely and utilize the finger rest. Remember to return the  pipette to the pipette stand between deliveries. Avoid handling pipette tips or reservoirs with bare hands. Body heat transferred during handling disturbs temperature equilibrium, which leads to variations in delivered volume.

Use high-quality tips intended for use with the pipette. System tips are designed to work with their matching pipettes. Mismatched tips and pipettes can result in inaccuracy, imprecision, or both. Quality system tips provide an airtight seal, are made of superior materials, and are free of molding defects. They also ensure dependable liquid delivery.

Use the Correct Pipette Tip diagram
 Click image to enlarge

Depress the plunger smoothly until coming to rest with a light and consistent force at the first stop. Immerse the tip, and then release the plunger at a constant rate. Repeatable actions produce repeatable results.


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