Re: AAA-mininert valves
Bryan Dunbar (b.dunbar@abdn.ac.uk)
Mon, 17 Aug 1998 12:47:54 +0100
Ritter,Nadine wrote:
>
> Waters still sells the PicoTag workstation (as of 1997 catalog), which is
> what most people that I know use for hydrolysis. I have also seen a
> hydrolysis unit made by Savant that includes a sealed centrifuge rotor for
> spinning under high vacuum, but the lab that has it didn't like it very much
> and just bought a PicoTag workstation to replace it.
>
> The biggest problem we have ever had with the PicoTag unit is the Mininert
> valve caps used to seal the hydrolysis tubes. They have a tendency to crack
> and leak, with replacement caps at over $100 EACH to replace. Even if they
> test ok under vacuum at the beginning of the hydrolysis, they can leak
> slightly during heating. Waters has been giving us credit and replacing
> broken caps if they fail within the first month or so of use, but it is still
> frustrating to lose a set of samples due to leaking caps. One characteristic
> sign of leaked caps is when you do not hear the "psst" of pressure change as
> you open the cap's valve after the tube has cooled. We have not investigated
> microwave hydrolysis, which is a method that is an option.
>
>
> Nadine Ritter
> Abbott Diagnostics Division
> Nadine.Ritter@add.ssw.abbott.com
AAA users,
it might be worth pointing out that Pierce supply the Mininert
valves at a fraction of the Waters cost ( Pierce part No.10130) For full
details of our preferred protocols see my buddy Ian Davidson's Chapter
13 in Protein Sequencing Protocols (Humana press ISBN 0-89603-353-8).
Regards from Scotland (chilly and damp),
Bryan.
--
Bryan Dunbar,
Protein Facility,
Room WT27,
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology,
University of Aberdeen,
Polwarth Building,
Foresterhill,
Aberdeen,
SCOTLAND.
AB25 2ZD.
TEL: 01224-273103
FAX: 01224-273104
e-mail; b.dunbar@abdn.ac.uk