Hamilton Microlab STAR - Microlab STAR Pipetting Arm

Microlab
®
STAR User Manual
610766/02 Page 17 of 225
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The final step is to eject the used tip into the waste container of the Microlab STAR. A needle
will be placed back into the wash station, where the wash process may be started directly.
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If cross-contamination is a concern, consider the following approaches:
• Use only HAMILTON tipson the Microlab STAR.
• Use new tips for every pipetting step to avoid carry-over between different wells or
containers.
• Use filter tips to avoid contamination of the pipetting channel by jets, aerosols, etc.
• Always dispense to a surface. Dispensing in a jet may produce aerosols and thus cause
cross-contamination.
• Always dispense using a residual volume, i.e., do not completely empty the tip on
dispense. This can be achieved e.g. by aspirating 10 µl and dispensing only 9 µl.
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In general, pipetting on the principle of air displacement (as with hand pipettes) is sensitive to
• the manner of pipetting (e.g. surface or jet),
• tip or needle type
• environmental effects (temperature, pressure, humidity), and
• liquid type.
The instrument’s behavior is determined by specifying the pipetting mode (e.g., surface or jet
mode) and the liquid class. Pipetting mode and liquid class represent two independent sets
of information which both have to be specified. For aspiration, three modes are possible:
• Simple “Aspiration”, for all standard cases,
• “Consecutive Aspiration” for aspiration with a tip that has already aspirated liquid, and
• “Aspirate All” for aspiration of all the liquid within a cup (specify a volume larger than what
is expected within the cup). In this case, aspiration monitoring is deactivated and the tip
will follow the falling liquid level (if specified) to the bottom of the container, staying there
for the rest of the aspiration.
For dispensing, four modes are possible:
• “Surface Dispense Part Volume” for dispensing only a part of the liquid in the tip to a
surface, leaving a residual volume in the tip,
• “Surface Dispense Empty Tip” for dispensing all the liquid in the tip to a surface,
• “Jet Dispense Part Volume” for dispensing only a part of the liquid in the tip in a jet, i.e.
without touching a surface, leaving a residual volume in the tip,
• “Jet Dispense Empty Tip” for dispensing all the liquid in the tip in a jet.