Homogenizers and Immersion Blenders
Devices designed for overhead immersion into substances; ideal for pulverization of plant/animal tissue, grain/seed, sample prep, and more. Includes accessories such as generator probes of varying tips, stand assemblies, bead mill tubes, and more.
Homogenizers can be used with tissue, plant, food, soil, and other sample types. Homogenization is a common sample preparation step for analyzing nucleic acids, proteins, cells, metabolism, pathogens, and other targets.
Cell fractionation releases the contents of cells, and newer methods have been designed to consider quality and environmental aspects, cross-contamination, aerosol generations, infection risk, and noise levels. Different methods have been developed for disrupting cell walls and other structures. These include bead mills, sonication, rotor-stator mechanical, high pressure, and other physical methods.
For biological work, sonication may adequately disrupt or deactivate biological material via the process of sonoporation. Sonic dismembrators can break up cells and fragment DNA molecules by subjecting the sample to ultrasonic waves that create small fragments.
Some substances can be mechanically homogenized using beads and other small pieces of metal or minerals. The sample is added to a vial that contains these small particles; the tubes are then rapidly agitated, which breaks down the materials. Depending on the equipment, many samples can be processed simultaneously with this method.
Another mechanical homogenization method is the rotor-stator; these devices have a fast-spinning inner rotor and a stationary outer sheath (stator). Samples are subjected to tearing, shear fluid forces, and cavitation (bubble formation and collapse). A rotor-stator processes a single sample at a time; high-throughput and continuous use models are available.
An immersion blender has an electric motor that powers rotating blades at the end of a shaft. The device is lowered into the sample or mixture and the motor activated. The device may be hand-held or clamped to a stand.
Homogenizer packages are also available for motorized methods.
BioSpec Products Mini-Beadbeater-96, 115 volt
The MiniBeadbeater-96 disrupts cells and tissue by violently shaking a sample inside a classic 2 ml microvial or standard deep well microplate partially filled with tiny ceramic or steel beads. Complete cell disruption is achieved in 1 to 3 minutes of beadbeating. A common application is nucleic acid extraction. Up to 400 mg of tissue is added to a vial containing glass or ceramic beads and a nucleic acid extraction solution...the later often being purchased as part of a nucleic acid extraction kit. The synergy of simultaneous mechanical cell disruption and nucleic acid extraction in a chaotropic solution gives very high yields of high quality RNA or DNA. Most protocols developed using smaller capacity models of the MBB are transferable with little if any modification.
Ops Diagnostics 100 micron Zirconium Beads, 1200 mg Pre-Filled Tubes (100 count)
Tougher than silica, less expensive than stainless steel, and inert in most solutions, 100 µm Acid Washed Zirconium Beads are suitable for homogenizing bacteria and small tissues. May also be used as a sonication additive.Beads are available in Acid Washed, Low Binding, and and Molecular Biology Grade format. Since untreated beads are notorious for containing large amounts of debris and dust, all beads are acid washed, at a minimum, prior to packaging. Low Binding Beads are chemically altered using a proprietary process to bind less biomolecules liberated from homogenized samples. Pre-Filled Tubes are a convenient solution for labs seeking time savings by no longer requiring researchers to weigh, fill and QC individual tubes. They are available in 2 mL skirted (i.e., self-standing) or unskirted polypropylene tubes to ensure compatibility with most tube homogenizers. Clear screw caps with O-rings included.
BioSpec Products Chrome-Steel Beads, 1.3mm dia, Beads are sold in one pound bottles
Chrome steel has a density of 7.9g/cc (used mostly for grinding leaves). Beads are sold in one pound bottles.Cat. No. 11079113c 1.3mm diaListed bead sizes are median (average) values. Because beads are sorted by sieves, bead size varies between +/-10% of a listed value.With either stainless steel or chrome steel beads, common polypropylene microvials will break if 'dry' grinding or cryo-grinding is attempted in our MiniBeadbeaters. In this case, our 2 ml stainless steel microvials with silicone rubber caps or our 2 ml XXTuff polypropylene screw cap microvials are recommended.
