Lab Manager
Lab Manager provides guidance and resources to help laboratory leaders run their labs like a business. We are the only publication specifically focused on all aspects of running a lab.Content by Lab Manager
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Glove boxes are enclosed, controlled environment chambers that serve as isolation or containment spaces for laboratory work. Most glove boxes operate in isolation mode, under positive pressure, to protect samples or experiments from the environment.
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Homogenization seeks to create samples in which analytes of interest are dispersed uniformly throughout. Numerous technologies can achieve this, including pressure, mechanical (rotorstator or blade-type), and bead-beating. Mechanical homogenizati
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Laboratory information management systems (LIMSs) are software packages that connect instruments, other software, and sample management to human operators and other data systems, including electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs). Despite their ind
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Low-temperature laboratory freezers can achieve temperatures of about -40° C or lower.
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Microwave digestion is the preparation method of choice for analyzing metals in complex mixtures. Food and environmental industries favor this technique, which is also applicable to testing materials, soil, agricultural waste products, engine oils, a
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Milling and grinding are ancient techniques that are working their way into high-tech markets. Kyle James, VP of sales at Retsch USA (Newtown, PA) notes that demand for particle size reduction systems has grown significantly from “alternati
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Most laboratory workers view ovens almost as utilities, using them principally for drying glassware and heat-resistant equipment, regenerating desiccants and catalysts, gently heating samples, and curing or preparing materials and composites.
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First introduced by Beckman in 1936, pH meters have become a mainstay of academic, industrial, and manufacturing laboratories. pH meters determine the acidity or alkalinity of a solution by measuring the concentration of hydrogen ions; H+; or, more a
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Power supplies provide steady, precisely controlled electrical energy to electronic equipment. One type of supply, the uninterruptible power supply, powers electronics in the event of an emergency by keeping a battery constantly charged. When the
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Best practices dictate that pipettes undergo preventive maintenance and calibration at least once per year. Calibration involves dispensing set volumes of a liquid, usually water, into the weighing pan of a calibrated balance.
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Lab refrigerators and freezers are similar in construction to household units, and come in a variety of temperature ranges, shapes and sizes. Freezer and refrigeration options fall into four general temperature categories: +4ºC refrigerators
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Total organic carbon (TOC) analyzers are a mainstay in industries that must detect and quantify carbon content from many samples and sources. Unlike spectroscopy, which measures specific carbon species from their unique interactions with light, TOC a
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Light microscopes, which view objects illuminated by visible light, have been around for centuries. Related are instruments that image nonvisible infrared or ultraviolet radiation, or ones that view fluorescence or Raman effects. All of these use opt
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Oil-free diaphragm pumps have earned a reputation for environmental- friendliness for low- to medium-pressure applications. At the low-pressure end, pumps do not continuously send water down the drain as do aspirators and there is no contaminated oil
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Time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) works by imparting equal energies to all fragments. Since smaller particles thereby travel faster, their masses are determined by how quickly they travel from the source to the detector.
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