Essential Considerations for Selecting Basic Lab Equipment

Liquid handling is an essential part of laboratory work in the life sciences, especially for tasks including PCR, sequencing, cell culture, drug discovery, vaccine production, and diagnostics. By choosing liquid handling products you can trust, you can spend more time focused on your work and less time worrying about basic lab equipment.

Corning is committed to delivering reliable, exceptional quality lab essentials - from pipets, tips, tubes, bottles, glassware, flasks, and cryopreservation consumables to advanced culture and bioproduction tools. In addition to providing 100,000 labs worldwide with products that have been trusted for decades, the Corning® brands are constantly developing innovative products to meet the demands of cutting-edge research.

Corning developers never stop learning, growing, investing, and improving, so you can perform your work with confidence. Here's a look at the Corning advantage of quality, expertise, and sustainability and how those ideals translate into top-tier laboratory equipment.

Leveraging Automation Tools

Automation has streamlined many standard lab tasks, including liquid handling and sample manipulation. However, these same methods have also increased the need for precisely engineered and consistently manufactured lab consumables. Corning specializes in manufacturing high-quality tips for all major automation platforms, routinely offering a wider variety of tips than any other aftermarket manufacturer.

Axygen® automation tips are manufactured to meet the specifications required for accurate and precise sample delivery. Axygen tips are manufactured using high-quality molds coupled with Corning process controls, ensuring complete compatibility and consistent fit. The molds are designed and created by an expert team of in-house engineers with extensive experience in producing reliable, high-quality products.

A clean, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility allows for automated assembly and electronic monitoring - supported by experienced personnel - to ensure tips are free from contamination and defects. Prior to release, all new automation tips are validated at customer sites to ensure proper function.

All Corning products are manufactured with the highest quality standards to support consistent results. Liquid handling tools include RNase-/DNase-/human gDNA-free and nonpyrogenic.

Axygen automation tips are available in 96 or 384 tip formats, made of clear or conductive black polypropylene. For the complete catalog of automation tips and other consumables, see the Axygen Product Selection Guide.

Choosing PCR Consumables

Corning's extensive line of Axygen PCR products is specifically designed for standard, gradient, and real-time PCR applications. All tubes, strip tubes, and plates have ultra-thin walls to allow for efficient heat transfer, shorter cycle times, and more consistent results. The 0.2 mL tubes, strip tubes, and 96-well plates can be sealed with domed caps for efficient heat transfer from the thermal cycler lid or flat caps for easy labeling and piercing. The MaxyClear flat cap strips offer light transmittance that's higher than standard strip caps, making them ideal for fluorescent luminescent and real-time PCR applications.

High throughput 384-well PCR microplates, like the PCR-384-C and PCR-384M2-C, are available with bar coding and are compatible with major thermocyclers, liquid handlers, and sequencers. Axygen RigiPlate™ microplates are designed to retain their flatness after numerous heating and cooling cycles.

Evaluating Plate Sealing and Storage

For 96-well and 384-well microplates, Axygen AxyMats are sealing mats designed for long- or short-term sample storage, high throughput screening, and PCR. They're made of research-grade silicone so they can be autoclaved and reused, and they remain functional in subzero environments. AxyMats are pierceable with a syringe needle and automatically reseal, making them ideal for automated processes. Axygen ImpermaMats are a chemically resistant line of sealing mats for use with more aggressive solvents, such as DMSO.

Axygen also offers easy-to-use and cost-effective adhesive films, aluminum foils, and heat-sealing options for microplates. When optical clarity is desired, consider using pressure-sensitive Ultra Clear film.

Selecting the Right Basic Lab Equipment

Other lab essentials Axygen offers include deep well and assay plates, reagent reservoirs, single- and multi-channel pipettors, pipet tips, and microcentrifuge tubes. Axygen lab equipment includes gel documentation systems, horizontal gel boxes, power supplies, the MaxyGene II Thermal Cycler, PlateMax® Semi-automatic Plate Sealers, the Axyspin Refrigerated Microcentrifuge, and the Axyspin Mini Plate Spinner Centrifuge. They're designed and manufactured with the same exacting standards meant to help you reach your research goals.

Refer to the Axygen Product Selection Guide to learn more. You can also contact Corning Customer Support Experts to discuss the options for lab equipment and consumables that would best fit your specific needs.

Basic lab equipment is essential to work in the life sciences. Accordingly, it's crucial to choose quality products from a partner you can trust. Therein lies the Corning Advantage.