Practical tips for using multichannel pipettes

When it comes to multichannel pipettes, evenness is the name of the game! Apply even, vertical pressure to make sure your liquid levels are the same!

When using a multichannel pipette, hold the pipet vertically (not angled!!) above the tips when grabbing and above the liquid when aspirating (sucking up)

When you’re grabbing the tips, make sure you’re applying even pressure (and not too much) to each tip - be careful not to roll in from side or you can get a sort of slant in the levels where one side is higher than the other.

Look at the liquid levels to ensure they’re all even before you go to dispense. If they’re not, try pipetting up and down a few times. If that doesn’t help, try grabbing the tips up again, more evenly hopefully.

Look a the hopefully-no-liquid levels in the tips after your dispense. Is there stuff stuck in there? If so, make sure you get it out - it might be easiest to do this after you’ve removed the other tips (see video)

Be on the lookout for bubbles and pipette them out before aspirating (see video)

Rotate replicate and sample locations in your plate so that systematic errors (e.g. one side always has slightly more or one tip always has slightly less) don’t always affect the same sample.

If you have fewer than a full-row’s worth of tips you need, place the tips in the center, not on the ends, to get the most even levels.

Keep an empty tip box you can use to put “extra” tips after you rearrange tips to suit the number you need.

Make much more than you think you need - especially when using reagent reservoirs, because the liquid will get spread out, including in-between where the tips will actually be drawing from.    • Practical tips for using repeater pip...  

Another time-saving pipette is the repeater pipette. With those you aspirate once and then dispense lots of times (the same volume each time)

more on preparing extra:    • Make more than you think you need: pr...  

more time-saving tips when working with lots of samples: http://bit.ly/mastermixesmultichannels

more about lab equipment: http://bit.ly/equippedtoexperiment &    • Lab equipment: Tour, terminology, & t...  

more practical lab tips: https://bit.ly/lab_tricks_page

more pipetting tips: https://bit.ly/pipetting_problems &    • Pipetting viscous liquids - reverse p...   &    • Random tips for choosing & using micr...   &    • Tips for when liquid jumps back & get...   &

more about all sorts of things: #365DaysOfScience All (with topics listed) 👉 http://bit.ly/2OllAB0 or search blog: http://thebumblingbiochemist.com