Bench Buys

Madison, Wis.-based Novagen's ColiRoller™ plating beads replace the "hockey stick" method of bacterial plating. Bacteria are commonly spread on agar plates with a bent glass rod that must be immersed in ethanol and placed briefly in an open flame before use; this method can result in uneven spreading and is tedious when preparing multiple plates. ColiRoller beads are a more efficient alternative--simply pipette cells onto a plate, add 10-20 beads, and tilt the plate back and forth to spread. An entire stack of plates can be spread simultaneously using this method. The beads are shaken off after application. One package of ColiRollers contains enough beads to prepare 50-75 plates, and has a list price of $7.50.

Novagen Inc.
(800) 526-7319
www.novagen.com

Stratagene of La Jolla, Calif., is offering a 20 percent introductory promotional discount on its new Message Map™ Northern Blot products. Message Map Northern Blots provide a convenient means of analyzing the size and relative quantities of RNA transcripts in murine and human tissues. The blots offer high sensitivity and low background and are suitable for detecting low abundance messages. The list price of the blots range from $505 for mouse tissues to $595 for human tissues and cell lines. To receive this discount, reference quote number MMPLP04. The offer is valid until June 15, 2001.

Stratagene
(800) 424-5444
www.stratagene.com

Promega of Madison, Wis., is offering a 25 percent promotional discount on transfection reagents, including the TransFast™ transfection reagent, the Tfx™ line of reagents, and the ProFection^® mammalian transfection systems. More information about Promega's line of transfection products can be found online at the Promega Transfection Assistant Web site: www.promega.com/transfectionasst/. The offer is available through direct order from Promega in the United States only and is valid until June 30, 2001. To receive the discount, reference quote number 3219.

Promega Corp.
(800) 356-9526
www.promega.com