Australia's Science Forum

Hi,
Trying to come up with a good cheap way to get the students to practice pipetting for electrophoresis.
Any tips?
We thought to make up agar with the wells and maybe use food dye?
Thanks
Annette.

We use a laminated cards with little circle on it that we made up. We also use food dye with a little bit of Glycerol in it so it doesn't run all over the place with surface tension. You can have a few different cards with different volumes. We also have a lot of old well plates that we roll out and students use. Quick wash after and they are all good.

I used to make up a small batch of dye for practicing . I can’t remember the exact mix , but the original dyes from Southern Biological had the recipe on them . IE , what % glycerol , water and the particular dye .

Made up some agar wells and would place them in a petrie dishes and cover with water . The students need to be able to fill the wells but not go too deep that they inject the well bottom .

Those dual action micro pipettes need a bit of practice .

Found it .
viewtopic.php?p=41246#p41246

20% Gycerol
80% Water
Stir in a smidgen of Bromothymol Blue or Methyl Orange powder to colour .

Cheers guys thanks