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Quasar Instruments' DemoLab



DemoLab Mobile Showroom and Training Center

DemoLab™ is a fully equipped state-of-the-art mobile laboratory that travels around the country offering customers the unique opportunity to try before you buy any product that Quasar Instruments offers through our online store. This revolutionary mobile facility is available exclusively from Quasar Instruments.


Preparing to launch the 2013 DemoLab Tour
December 6, 2012 by admin

DemoLab | Quasar Instruments | GilsonQuasar Instruments is teaming up with marketing partner Gilson on a national demonstration tour! Our state-of-the-art mobile demonstration vehicle is undergoing preparations to be decked out with general laboratory equipment, highlighting Automated Liquid Handling systems. Stay tuned for tour dates and locations.



200 Years of Science and Optical Instruments
October 21, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Did you know that the oldest microscope manufacturer in the industry is A.Kruss Optronic?

The company was established by Andre Kruss in the year 1844 and named Optical Institute A. Kruss. In 1859, Kruss began producing its own lenses for microscopes, photographic cameras and projectors, and birthing the model for modern movie projectors. The company gained momentum after World War II, and began serving international customers under Paul Kruss’ management.

 

Check out one of their quality microscopes: Krüss MBL2000 Biological Standard Microscope



Keeping it Clean
October 10, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Did you know that the sterilization process of medical instruments dates back to the Roman era? This can be accounted to Galen, a Greek physician who practiced the field of medicine in Rome. Before each use, he encouraged physicians like himself to boil their medical tools such as scalpels, forceps and catheters. Back then, injured Roman gladiators were aided with clean and disinfected tools, thanks to Galen. However, it was only in 1876 that Louis Pasteur and his student and collaborator, Charles Chamberland, invented the first autoclave.

Ritter Polysteribox® Medical science is fast evolving, allowing present scientists to come up with unimaginable discoveries and innovative inventions. In 1993, Ritter’s inventor Mr. Werner Ulschmid in Germany was awarded with B.A.U.M. due to his Polysteribox, a one of a kind sterilization box. 

 



Choices for Larger Volume Repetitive Pipetting
August 5, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

In this video, I demonstrate four dispensing methods commonly used in biology laboratories for filling up a 1 mL deepwell 96 well plate. A volume of 1 mL will be dispensed using a variety of different tools.

 



The best centrifuges you have never heard of
August 1, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

For decades American auto buyers have flocked to vehicles manufactured in Japan, making Honda and Toyota constantly among the most popular selling vehicles. In the lab equipment market, Japanese manufactures are selling their equipment “white-label” to large american brands for them to market. However in South Korea, another country known for their exceptionally high quality manufacturing is home to the best centrifuge manufacturer you have neer heard of….yet.

Despite manufacturing centrifuges since 1964 Hanil has remained a relatively unknown brand in the US market, unless of course you work in a lab who has ever purchased one, because once the secret is out in your lab every centrifuge purchase is a Hanil. Comparable to the fellow South Korean manufacturer Hyundai in the automotive market, Hanil is one of the fastest growing centrifuge manufactures in the world, due to their user friendly centrifuges which back up their high quality manufacturing with a standard 5 year warranty. This is 2 years longer warranty coverage then Beckman and Thermo Fisher centrifuges!!

 

Take advantage of this 5 year warranty to purchase a Hanil Microcentrifuge at close to 40% less then the competitive brands eliminating any risk in getting on the Hanil bandwagon. See more of  Hanil FLETA 5 Lab Centrifuge.

 



HOW TO: Calibrate a Capp Pipette
July 29, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

With Capp pipettes, calibrating is easier than you think.

 

Let’s say upon your volume verification, you discovered that the pipette was dispensing a different volume instead of what is being displayed. For example, 49 microliters of liquid is dispensed even though the volume indicator says that it’s 50 microliters. Instead of setting the pipette back to the manufacturer to be calibrated, you can now calibrate your Capp pipettes manually in just six easy steps.

 



A Closer Look at Proper Preparative HPLC Injection
July 29, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

It is important to limit the partial loop injection volume in Preparative HPLC for maximum recovery of your sample.

 

To illustrate clearly, the injection loop is drawn as a straight tube in the video.

The vertical lines found at the end of the tube represent the injection volume or total injection amount. When samples are loaded into the sample tube, they follow a parabolic flow profile.
The parabolic shape gets more exaggerated as the sample moves through the sample loop. This shape is so pronounced that if you inject more than ½ of your sample loop, you’re going to risk pushing the sample out of the end of your injection loop and into the waste puddle.


 



A Closer Look at How a HPLC Injection Valve Works
July 29, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

In order for you to understand better how an injector port works, here is a video of me illustrating how to plumb up an injection valve in a HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) system.

 

A typical injection valve makes use of a two position six port injector. In the video, the ports are labeled along the way to be able to understand how the mechanism works. Since different systems have different valves, labeling won’t be helpful because this video only shows this specific valve.

Inside the six port two position valve, there is a rotor within which channels are kept. This can be labeled as position one, also called the sample loading position. When the valves are switched, determined by the dotted line in this example is known as position two or inject position.

For the sample loading position, the sample loop simply goes from a port on one side of the valve to a port directly on the opposite side.


 



Lab and Mini Centrifuges
July 1, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Have you checked out the ExtraGene Mini Centrifuge?  It is a wonderful unit for personal use in the lab and is ideal for quick spin downs and micro filtration. The Mini Centrifuge has an on/off switch on the side of the unit as well as a start / stop switch attached to the lid. The unit is supplied with two rotors, one for 6 1.5 and 2.0 mL microfuge tubes and one for 16 0.2 mL PCR tubes or 2 PCR tube strips. The centrifuge spins at 6,000 rpm and produces 2000 g. The ExtraGene mini centrifuge has a 2 year warranty.

  

Mini Centrifuges

 



CAPP Pipette Innovation
July 1, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

How did your favorite coffee additive lead to the creation of the common handheld tool you use to handle liquids in your lab? We are talking about Milk and your pipette! The origins of the pipette date back to 1950’s when milk inspectors popularized the “Carlsburg” pipette to transfer samples onto microscope slides.





 

Here is a harder question, do you know who invented the autoclavable pipette?

It was my favorite top-of-the-line pipette manufacturer: CAPP! All CAPP pipettes are fully autoclavable pipettes.

View the video on the left for more about this great product. More about this pioneering product here: Capp Pipette

 



Heathrow Lab Organization
June 1, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Pipettor Clamp-Ette®
There is a stereotype that analytical researchers are a well organized group of people, but I know when many of us look at our lab bench we can honestly say that is one stereotype we do not live up to. I would like to show you some of the new products that accomplish two things in lab organization:

A) Create more bench space by moving your equipment and supplies to higher ground or decreasing footprint.

B) Sort everything so you can quickly locate the correct equipment or supply for the task at hand.

But how much productivity gain would you receive from these items? Here’s why…

 



Benchmark Orbi-Shaker and 2D/3D Fixed Speed Shaker
June 1, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

You may not put much thought into your shaker purchases. I know when I worked in the lab every catalog had a house brand of shakers and they would often be ordered by default. This month I have found out there are much better choices in lab shakers. I want you to see firsthand why Benchmark’s Orbi-Shaker and 2-D/3-D fixed speed shakers offer the best combination of innovation and value on the market. Benchmark 3-D fixed speed shaker, which has 24% more platform space than other brands.

The Biomixer is the best nutating shaker I have seen for blood and centrifuge tubes ever. See more of this here: 3-D Shakers (Fixed Speed)

 



Plasticware and Hybex bottles
May 11, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Plasticware consumables are a large part of any laboratory budget and an attractive place to save money; however, that same plasticware is what protects valuable samples. Finding high quality plasticware for this purpose and still save money for the lab is difficult.

Like many, I have searched for high-value, low cost but reliable consumables. Below, I have provided you some previews and links to some of the best I’ve seen so far.

 

 



Bulk Pipetting Options
May 11, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.
Everybody is familiar with the standard pipette. This instrument is ideal for delivering volumes accurately and quickly. One area where the standard pipette is less efficient is bulk dispensing or delivering the same liquid and volume multiple times, such as reagent filling in a deep well plate. This month’s video update shows a couple options to address this common lab problem including using a repeater pipette and a pipette controller. 

 

A repeater pipette is a product for dispensing the same media into multiple target vessels without having to refill a pipette each time. It aspirates a large single volume then dispenses a portion of that volume each time you press the dispense button. Here’s a link for more details on: Repeater Pipettes

 



2 Superb Pipettes: Which one is for you?
May 11, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.
Having the right pipette for a specific environment is the first step for any laboratory. I have seen a couple of pipettes that could help revolutionize your workflow. These are the Capp ecoPipette and the Accumax Pro. While the technology has been here for a while, the innovative additions, accuracy and manufacturing quality are truly amazing. Let’s take a quick look at these two leading pipettes:

 

Capp ecoPipette - It is a high-end research-grade pipette. While it is marketed against the high quality pipettes from Gilson, Rainin and Eppendorf, the ecoPipette offers innovation and high quality at an affordable price. The Capp pipettes are manufactured in Denmark from high quality metals and plastics. The innovative variable volume control knob allows you to easily use the same pipette handle as a fixed volume pipette or variable volume pipette, simply by changing the control knob (Video on website). 

Here’s more information and literature on Capp ecoPipette: Capp ecoPipette





 



Hybex Bottles
May 11, 2011 by T. Scott Kephart, Ph.D.

Hybex media bottles are high quality bottles with a low coefficient of thermal expansion (3.3) allowing them to be temperature resistant from minus 70ºC up to 500ºC. This permits repeated use in freezers, microwaves, autoclaves and dry heat sterilization chambers. They come in a variety of sizes and cap colors.

Hybex™ reusable media bottles are manufactured from high quality, borosilicate 3.3 glass. With their superior chemical resistance, these bottles are ideal for storage of reagents, culture media, biological fluids and a variety of other aqueous and nonaqueous solutions. All hybex bottles have permanent, white enamel graduations for volume measurement and a white identification box for marking or coding.

 

 



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