The Microtiter® plate--often referred to as the microwell plate or just simply the microplate. The origins of this plastic phenomenon go back to the Cold War era with some amazing innovations applied to this device along the way. Designed to take the burden off of the test tube and the petri dish, the microplate has served its purpose well and gone on to more sophisticated applications.
Microplates come in a variety of shapes and sizes, although the establishment of some guidelines by the Society of Biomolecular Screening (SBS) has led to some standardization of the 96-well microplate: microplates measure 5.030" lengthwise and 3.365" across. For more information on the standardization of 96-well microplates, visit the following web site (www.miptec.com/standard.htm). From 6 wells to 1,536 wells, square to rounded wells, black plates to opaque plates, there is probably a microplate out there to suit your needs. The next question you might ...
