To most lab workers, even those who spend much of their days at or near fume hoods, these safety enclosures are part of the furniture or infrastructure. A hood is a hood is a hood—except when processes require special services or utilities. While many hoods are indeed production-level, off-the-shelf products, almost any productivity- or safety-enhancing feature may be added to standard models.

This webinar will introduce you to the fundamentals of laboratory water purification and the types of contaminants potentially present in your laboratory water.

Lab glassware washers offer an excellent solution for laboratories that need to clean dirty labware including beakers, test tubes, Erlenmeyer flasks, cylinders, and BOD bottles. Technicians may be unsure whether dirty plasticware can also be cleaned in a glassware washer, leading them to hand wash the equipment which can be extremely time consuming. Lisa Choplo, Application Specialist at Miele Professional, addresses the most common concerns users have about cleaning plastics in a glassware washer.

INTEGRA has created a short, simple and engaging 'SimpleShow' format video to explain the safety features of their FIREBOY Safety Bunsen Burner.

As the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen might seem easy to come by, except that it’s usually bonded to oxygen in water or bound in organic compounds. Many applications, though, require pure hydrogen.

The chemical fume hood is probably the single most-used piece of equipment in research laboratories. Often, the chemical hood is shared by lab personnel, and occasionally it’s shared between labs.

Water is the most commonly used laboratory reagent; however, the importance of water quality is often overlooked. Because impurities can be a critical factor in many research experiments, water purity ranks high in importance. There are several types of impurities and contaminants in water such as particulates, organics, inorganics, microorganisms and pyrogens that can adversely affect results.

Dr. Nathaniel Hentz is assistant director of the analytical lab at the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC), where he develops bioanalytical assays in support of the various biomanufacturing processes taught at BTEC. Since 2008, Dr. Hentz has been responsible for developing and teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, industry short courses, and government (FDA and BARDA) training courses, with a focus on assay development and validation, quality control, and liquid-handling performance.

Automated liquid handling (ALH) systems span the range from semi-automated multichannel pipettors to room-sized systems. The industry is trending toward versatile, modular ALH systems—seemingly for every budget. Likewise, instrumentation, software, and methods have followed the trend toward greater user accessibility.

Whether to employ central washing stations or point-of-use washers located under a lab bench or in a corner is something that has to be addressed with regards to laboratory glassware washers. The former provide an economy of scale and are popular with lab workers who, almost universally, hate to “wash the dishes.” The downside for central washing stations is that glassware tends to disappear over time, due to breakage and operator error.

Glove boxes go by many different names and are used for many purposes. However, their essential attribute is the ability to maintain a completely separate environment from ambient. Glove boxes are completely closed compartments ranging in size from a few cubic feet to several hundred cubic feet and differ from other safety enclosures in two significant respects: users can introduce articles into glove boxes and manipulate them inside through ports fitted with gloves, and glove boxes typically use a specialized atmosphere.