More and more, products are developed "to make our lives easier". From self-cleaning ovens to fast-food drive-throughs to filing taxes by phone or computer (April 15 is rapidly approaching), more efficient and painless ways to go about our chores are developed daily, and biotechnology is no exception to this process. Preassembled, prepackaged bottle top filters are a prime example of a product designed to save scientists precious time in the laboratory.


MSI Internally Supported Filter. Image courtesy MSI (Westborough, Mass.) and modified in Adobe PhotoShop.
Although bottle top filters see use in several arenas, the primary application for these devices is for the sterilization of cell culture media or aqueous solutions. Cell lines in culture depend on various media as nutrient sources, and bottle top filters are where the battles between scientist and microbe take place. Should a microorganism invade a cell culture, it is likely the microbe will use...

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