Congratulations to Midsci St Louis's February backpack winner is Bob Mikesell from the Cross lab at Ophthalmology Wash U! Woohoo! Bob has been a long time TPP user, thank you for your loyality to TPP!

This week some very exciting news is hitting the presses on a possible cure for HIV: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/hiv-cure-berlin-patient_n_796521.html We are so very proud of the achievements of these researchers and our hopes that this is a real breakthrough are of a deep heartfelt nature.

Also, kudos to all researchers that study HIV and/or work with Stem Cells. You all played a part; somewhere, in some way, of progressing basic sciences to huge achievements.

Notice the picture from the lab: TPP 50ml Tubes, 75cm2 Flasks, and our Cell Scrapers were the products of choice. If TPP played any small part in that we are humbled and honored.

Now what else can be done?

Thank you to Simon Kaja, PhD for citing TPP and sending us the link.

Dr. Kaja is the Associate Director Preclinical Research Vision Research Center; Assistant Professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Basic Medical Science, University of Missouri - Kansas City. You can learn more about Dr. Kaja work at www.simonkaja.com.

Here is a link to his latest paper: Novel mechanism: oxidative stress selectively increases type-2 IP3 receptors in neuronal cells. http://bit.ly/9zAiZc

If you want 1000's more to see your paper, send us a link and we will post it here, at FB and Twitter!

Pipettors specifically for the tissue culture hood are a necessity for any lab worried about contamination. And now is the perfect time to stock up on them-Midsci is having a huge sale! The AlphaPettes are fully autoclavable, which means you can keep your pipettes sterile for working in the hood. The continuous adjustment with either the plunger button or the thumbwheel means your dispensing volumes are always accurate. The lifetime warranty doesn't hurt either! They also accept universal tips, so you can use the filter tips of your choice. Sale prices range from $139-149, call or email Midsci for more information. You can find the pipettors at Midsci's website: http://thelabshark.com/cat/prodprice2_Detail.cfm?ID=942.

Do you have AlphaPettes? What do you like about them? What would you like to see from future generations of AlphaPettes? Leave your comments!

Introducing, due to popular request, the new TPP 1000ml Filtermax bottle filters and bottle-top filters. These new bottle filters will offer the same great features as the other bottle filters TPP offers, only in a larger size. The square shape of the bottles and filters means less space taken up in a refrigerator, on a shelf, or stored in boxes. This shape also helps in handling the bottles, as well as giving the bottle a sturdier footprint, which makes the bottle more difficult to tip over while filtering. The large surface area of the PES membrane offers extremely low protein binding and excellent chemical resistance.

The prototypes for the 1L bottle filters are getting great reviews in the lab and should be available to everyone late fall. Until then, you can see the full line of bottle filters through Midsci at http://thelabshark.com/cat/prodprice2_Detail.cfm?ID=2060 and http://thelabshark.com/cat/prodprice2_Detail.cfm?ID=2220.

The "Easy Read" PCV (Packed Cell Volume) Tubes provide a quicker, less tedious alternative to counting cells than using a microscope and hemacytometer. Users simply load a sample of cell suspension into the PCV Tube, spin for 1 minute in a microcentrifuge to pellet the cells into the capillary at the bottom of the tube, and then accurately determine the cell pellet volume with the "Easy Read" measuring device. The cell pellet volume can then be utilized in conjunction with pre-determined conversion factors to quickly calculate cell number, protein production, or metabolic activity.

The Easy Read device is a blue metal ruler that measures microliter amounts. The front part of this ruler is flat and allows the user to measure microliter amounts to 0.025ul. Behind the ruler on the front is a metal slant on the back going down toward the higher measurements. The gray metal guide includes both a magnifying glass as well as the tube holder. The bottom of the tube is placed into the holder and rests against the slant on the back of the device. The tube then slides up and down that slant as you move the gray metal piece across the ruler. Once the top of your pellet is flush with the ruler, you can read the measurement through the magnifying glass.

Using the Easy Read device can give you more accurate results over the capillary graduations on the regular PCV tubes. The cost savings in buying the Easy Read device and using the non graduated tubes adds up quickly after multiple samples. http://tpp-us.com/docs/PCV_Easy_Read_Cell_Counting_System.html

Once contamination has hit a tissue culture incubator, it is hard to rid that incubator of the contamination.

The best way to take care of this problem is to use a 180°C sterilization cycle overnight with each hint of contamination. To see what the sterilization cycle could do to for your incubator, click here: http://binder-world.cnpg.com/Video/flatFiles/237/.

Midsci carries two incubator brands that offer this sterilization feature: The Binder 180C Sterilization incubator http://thelabshark.com/cat/prodprice2_Detail.cfm?ID=2926 and the New! Shel Lab High Heat Decontamination CO2 Incubator http://thelabshark.com/cat/prodprice2_Detail.cfm?ID=3108.

If you have an incubator that doesn't have this feature, there are a few things you can do to keep it clean and free from contamination as well:

1) The humidity pan should be removed, washed with disinfectant (non-corrosive ones!) and refilled with distilled, autoclaved water. You can also add a few pennies to the water. Copper oxide is released as the copper in the pennies breaks down. This copper oxide eliminates the microbes that are present in the chamber.

2) Remove all shelves and other stainless steel parts, wash with disinfectant, autoclave and replace into incubator as needed.

3) Wipe down the entire chamber, including door and gaskets with disinfectant as needed.

4) Replace gaskets as they wear.

5) Replace all HEPA and CO2 inline filters every 6 months or sooner, if noticeably dirty.

Depending on the amount of usage of the incubator, these processes should be done weekly, monthly or quarterly.

Taking care of water baths can be a pain for any researcher, especially when trying to eliminate contamination. These warm, moist environments are perfect for growing bacteria, molds, or fungus that can work their way into experiments and skew results. In addition to using harmful antimicrobial agents such as azides, maintaining contamination-free water baths requires constant cleaning and refilling which can become laborious. Also considering that bottles and tubes often tip over in water, and evaporation can lead to bath burnout or fire, water baths present several problems and concerns to tissue culture labs or any general laboratory using a water bath.

Can your lab go waterless? With Bath Armor beads you can! Bath Armor beads fit directly into your current bath in place of water and just like that you have a contamination-free warming bath. Using a spritz of disinfectant periodically is all you need to keep most bacteria and other microbes from growing in your bath. Beads also hold tubes and bottles right where you place them, without the need of racks or bottleneck weights. Bead baths are also GREEN and good for the environment: water isn't lost due to evaporation and harmful chemicals are not used to control contamination. Also, less electricity needed to heat the bath, because the beads stay at a constant temperature at all times. See this website for more information: http://midsci.com/docs/opt/bath_beads.html How would these Bath Armor beads come in handy for you?

Using a hemocytometer to count cells is a long, arduous process. Diluting to get the optimal cell density and hand-counting cells while crouching over a microscope for long periods of time, just to count one sample, is not an optimal use of researchers' time. There is also a bias that comes with counting by hand: is this cell in or out of the grid and do I count this group of cells as one or many? Hemocytometers are very fragile and expensive if broken and to handle the device for each sample with cleanings in between increases the risk of breaking or scratching the hemocytometer. To combat this issue, TPP has designed the PCV Cell Counting System. Users simply load a sample of cell suspension into the PCV Tube, spin for 1 minute in a microcentrifuge to pellet the cells into the capillary at the bottom of the tube, and then accurately determine the cell pellet volume by eye or with the "Easy Read" measuring device. The cell pellet volume can then be utilized in conjunction with pre-determined conversion factors to quickly calculate cell number, protein production, metabolic activity, bacteria number, etc. What do you use your PCV tubes for? How do you like them?