After I handled micro pipettes in lab for a semester!!! In the second semester, the very first day in the microbiology lab, mam started with basics once again, and started explaining how to calibrate & find error percentage of a micro pipette. I listened to the procedures very carefully; I was provided with a pipette and was asked to calibrate the same. I followed the procedures ; Took 3 eppendorfs , weighed them initially ; added water in microlitres to it ; weighed it back again; subtracted the final weight with initial eppendorf's weight; And finally the error was.... 300% !!!!!! :O ooo... " mam... this pipette is not at all good... it has 300% error...!!!", I went and reported to mam with full enthusiasm as if i found something great!!! " mam wondered & verified the pipette :) lolz... " mam got 0% error" :P It was myself who handled the pipette wrong!!! :) :D Mam asked me to pipette out in front of her. :D Pipette must be given minimum pressure., first press and then the liquid must be taken in. But, myself... " gave my whole strength and pressed the pipette, gave the second press also.. :P and sucked the liquid :P :D So., obviously i got more than the set amount of liquid in the pipette :D but, I reported the pipette as error.. that too not 10 or 20... , 300 % ...!!! Actually, the 300% error was in my handling of the pipette!!! Learnt how to use the pipette properly after a semester in microbiology lab :) Now, you understood , how brilliant i am??!!!!
Though there are several protein assays available, the most preferred one in many laboratories is "Lowry assay". It is effective in the concentration range of 0.01 mg/ml to 1 mg/ml. And, as an additional info, the paper published describing the procedure and principle of Lowry Assay is the most cited paper in the scientific history. (Feeling like, "Wow! I want to publish one to compete with Oliver.H. Lowry"??? :P) Why Lowry? Though there are several other protein assays, mostly Lowry assay is used in many laboratories. The reasons for preferring Lowry are: sensitivity of the assay, highly reproducible, cost effective, easy to perform. Biuret assay is generally used for higher protein concentrations like tissue samples but, Lowry for less concentrated samples and hence used in most of the molecular biology laboratories where there will be need for assaying comparatively less concentrated protein samples (in most cases where we attempt to produce enzymes). Oth...
HOD once desperately commented on our pipetting skills.. like "ungala pipette panna sonen, cycle-ku kaathu adika sollala" nu, the whole class went into laughter...!
ReplyDeleteHaha.. :D :D We too do such funny things while pipetting. in biochemistry lab we use ml pipettes. Mam always comments " You need 4 persons for pipetting a solution., one for holding the beaker, one noting the level in the pipette; another holding the test tube ; one more saying "ae podhum podhum 0.5 dhan.." :P :)))
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