Vacuum applications in the cell culture laboratory
7 Nov 2008For medium-conserving vacuum filtrations and professional liquid suctioning procedures, the versatile VACUUBRAND line of products offer tailor-made solutions for areas including cell culture work, biochemical and biomedical applications.
Filtrations are best carried out using a diaphragm pump with 90% vacuum or better. Experienced users frequently expand the application scope with optional equipment and accessories, such as Woulff bottles and convenient vacuum stopcocks for coarse adjustments in the vacuum. Optimally balanced components can simplify operations, enable efficient protection of the environment and extend the service life of the pump.
The two-stage MZ 2C NT chemical diaphragm pump covers a broad vacuum range for laboratory applications. There are two complete systems designed for filtration with this pump. A suction separator serves as a particle guard and to collect liquid droplets. The manual flow control valve enables adjustment of the effective suction capacity on vacuum connections, and the vacuum manometer offers an analog vacuum indicator. The PC 101 NT pump station uses an atmosphere-side emission condenser to condense the solvent vapors that have been pumped off.
There is a user-oriented suction system available for the most frequent liquid supernatant aspiration scenarios in cell culture work, biochemical and biomedical applications. BVC 21 NT BioChem-VacuuCenter includes a high-performance chemical diaphragm pump, an autoclavable collecting flask with a 0.2 µm guard filter, and a suction knob for professional and convenient operation. The BVC 21 NT VARIO also offers a continuously adjustable vacuum for selecting from gentle to brisk suctioning action. This works by regulating the pump speed. In this way, it is easy to make even small pressure adjustments for demanding suction and filtration applications.
When an external vacuum source suitable for liquid suctioning operations is already available, such as a diaphragm pump or a vacuum line (e.g., VACUU•LAN®), then the BVC system without the pump can be chosen. The vacuum in the similar completely equipped, pressure-monitored collection flask VTC VacuuTransContainer is under automatic valve control.