Plasma Treatment of Microtiter Plates and PCR Strips
Posted by Kevin Smith on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
Because of the chemical inertness of many of the polymers used in the manufacturing (molding) of microtiter plates (96 and 384 well, others), it is necessary to modify the surface of the plate to facilitate biomolecule attachment. Treating plates – and strip PCR tubes – with a vacuum plasma process yields greater treatment uniformity, consistency, and repeatability than treating these devices with an atmospheric plasma process (mainly, corona discharge). In addition, vacuum plasma processes generally offer a much longer functional lifetime relative to corona treating.
After plasma treatment, the plates can then be further and/or selectively functionalized with silanes and cross-linkers suitable for the covalent retention of biomolecules.
The Surface Modification Division of TriStar has years of experience in the treatment of diagnostic cultureware, be it molded polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylic, or other.