Date: August 31, 1998Multichannel Pipettors
Ouch! A full day of depressing the plunger on a manual pipettor can really smart. The 600 to 700 grams of thumb pressure required for each pipetting and blow-out stroke adds up after a few hundred repetitions. Combine that with individually filling all 96 wells on a microtiter plate, and the phrase "pipettor's thumb" falls right in with tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other repetitive strain injuries. In fact, the development of numerous hand ailments and work-related upper-limb disorders caused by prolonged use of manual pipettors has been documented in the literature (G. David and P. Buckle, Applied Ergonomics, 28:257-262, 1997).

In this profile, LabConsumer takes a peek at the electronic multichannel pipettor, a device designed to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries caused by pipetting and to simplify the use of 96-well microtiter plates. By shifting the work of...

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