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Mixers Can Do So Much More than “Just” Mix

HANAË KÖNIG Lab Academy

If there is one standard piece of equipment in every laboratory, it will be the thermomixer. Every day, samples are mixed, heated, or cooled. In addition, lab mixers enable further practical applications – for example, have you ever considered retiring the old waterbath and instead using a mixer to thaw your cell lines? Actually, why not? The advantages are overwhelming. Also: did you know that a PCR-like application, performed at a consistent temperature, is possible using a mixer?

This article appeared first in BioNews, Eppendorf’s customer magazine since 1993
Secure thawing of sensitive cell lines
The step of thawing cell lines is most often carried out in a waterbath. This practice, however, presents a number of disadvantages, including, for example, the labor-intensive cleaning process, the risk of contamination, and the inability to standardize the thawing process. Following the thawing process, vials are wet – they must be dried and sterilized on the outside before it is safe to transfer them to the biological safety cabinet. Frequent opening and closing of the lid of the waterbath, along with parallel use for warming media bottles and medium additives, may lead to temperature fluctuations and thus jeopardize the reliability of the thawing process.

A safer, easier, and more reproducible alternative is presented by the Eppendorf ThermoMixer® C (a 3-in-1 lab heater, cooler, and lab mixer) with the Eppendorf SmartBlock cryo thaw and an integrated thawing program for cell lines. For more details see Application Note 437 “Standardized and Water-free Cell Thawing using the Eppendorf ThermoMixer® C with the Eppendorf SmartBlock cryo thaw“.
The ThermoMixer C can be used as a lab mixer and lab heater/cooler
Cell lines frozen in 1.8–2 mL cryovials can now be thawed reproducibly, without the use of water, in an environment that is easy to clean and disinfect. Once adapted to the respective sample number, the thawing program will always proceed in the same manner. 1–24 samples with a volume of 1 mL can be thawed in parallel – either directly inside or beside the biological safety cabinet.

Familiar instrument – new possibilities

Research continually brings about new methodologies – for example, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). While this method does not replace PCR, it serves as a meaningful addition, allowing a quick check of individual gene sections. LAMP employs 4–6 primers and 6–8 binding sites on the target sequence and a specific polymerase which performs the annealing as well as the elongation steps at a consistent temperature. Self-hybridizing DNA-loops result, which generate a dumbbell structure.

The speed of the amplification increases, and the result is available after approximately 30 minutes. If a colorimetric LAMP kit is used, the pH of the reaction will change with the incorporation of nucleotides.

If the DNA section of interest is present, the sample will change color from pink to yellow. Examples of applications include the quick detection of bacterial infestations in mosquitoes; COVID; or viruses infecting vines.

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