This section is devoted to new devices simplifying the laboratory work. At this moment, it includes two devices. It is a magnetic separator and device for cytocentrifugation.
Concerning the commercially available magnetic separators, we have encountered two basic problems. First, every vial size required one special separator. Second, relatively weak magnets are commonly used and/or magnetic particles are deposited in a relatively large area of the vial, sometimes even in the proximity of the vial bottom. It extended the time necessary for the separation and also made it difficult to remove solutions without the risk of partial disturbance of the pellet. This was a really difficult task if a multichannel pipette was used. That is why the UniTrap was developed.
In the case of cytocentrifugation, we were limited by the necessity of using a special cytocentrifuge, cartridges and large microscopic slides. However, we are accustomed to work with circular coverslips with a diameter of 12 – 14 mm, because they allow working on small drops of solutions and therefore, minimize the consumption of relatively expensive antibodies and hybridization probes to less than 20 ml per coverslip. That is why we developed the Cytotrap. In contrast to the common cytocentrifuges, the CytoTrap enables the performance of the washing and incubation steps without the necessity of removing the coverslips from the device.