Monthly Archives: January 2012

Last week we announced in our newsletter that we would be including free Sterlitech water bottles or coffee mugs in with online orders until Feb. 15th or while supplies last, and sadly for some we’ve reached the end of our supply today. Don’t fret if you missed out this time around, chances are good that we’ll be doing some more giveaways this year. Be on the lookout for upcoming promotions in our newsletter and online so you don’t miss out on the next one. In the meantime, stay thirsty my friends!

Got an idea about what our next promo item should be? Shirts? Golf balls? Let us know in the comments and we’ll try to make it happen.

There is a good article in “The Scientist” this month that covers how various labs have improved the throughput for their flow cytometry applications. The piece covers some of the problems users experience with flow cytometry, namely its time-consuming nature, as well as the steps that actual users have taken to improve the process for themselves.

Flow cytometry is a commonly used technique for performing cell counts and diagnosing diseases including leukemia. The use of flow cytometry to analyze cells in the fields of immunology research and drug discovery is growing thanks to new equipment that streamlines the process. A few of these solutions can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, so some of this equipment probably won’t be a feasible option for everyone. A less intensive-option that can improve processing speed is to outfit instruments with a well-plate sipper that can accept microtiter plates, such as the Empore 96-Well Solid Phase Extraction plates. The best solution will likely depend on the number of samples being processed by flow cytometry. As Steve McCellan, Senior Biological Scientist at the University of Florida, points out in the article, “Your arm would be paralyzed” if you had to test 20,000 samples with a normal flow cytometer.

You can read the full article online here to find out what else the pros have to say about flow cytometry.

Our apologies if you were affected by our sudden office closure yesterday due to a snowstorm here in Seattle. We’re back in business today and road conditions are improving, so we don’t expect to have any other forced holidays in the near future.

While there are many things Seattleites do well (software design, passive-aggressiveness), getting around in the snow is decidedly not one of them, as you can see in this YouTube video. Although in our meager defense, very little of the Seattle area sits on flat land and we do have the best soccer fanbase in the country. But until we can master the art of not braking through an ice patch, I get the feeling we will continue to be the object of ridicule from the Midwest, Northeast, and everywhere else that gets below-freezing temperatures from time to time.

Stay warm out there, wherever you are!

A recently completed test in Poland found that enhancing ultrafiltration (UF) flat sheet membranes with an anionic polymer increased the membrane’s ability to purify samples of galvanized wastewater. For this experiment, the researchers tested multiple concentrations of wastewater infused with zinc, nickel, and copper ions against EW and MW designation flat sheet membranes that were infused with a polyelectrolyte, in this case polysodium 4-styrenesulfonate (PSSS) with cation-exchange properties. The result was a more-efficient metal binding agent, enabling 97-99% retention of the target metals.

The EW membrane is made with Polysulfone while the MW is a modified Polyacrylonitrile known as Ultrafilic. Both designations ably treated the galvanized wastewater, but the MW membrane did have 2-3 times higher permeate flux values due to the membrane’s higher permeability.

In addition to membrane separation, common treatment options for galvanized wastewater include chemical processing and the ion exchange method. Unlike these other methods however, an effective membrane separation methodology has the potential to remove higher concentrations of effluent in a continuous process so these findings could impact how galvanic wastewater is processed in the future.

You can read the published paper here.

We’re sorry to say that we have just been informed that one of our ultrafiltration (UF) range flat sheet membrane designations, SelRO MPF-U20-S, has been discontinued. This means that we will no longer be able to offer our catalog numbers YMMPFU20S1818, YMMPFU20S195, YMMPFU20S475, or YMMPFU20S425. The SelRO MPF-U20-S designation was made from a proprietary Koch Membrane Systems polymer and used for a variety of research and industrial applications.

While this particular designation will be missed, we still have several other UF designations for sale that can meet your separation needs. To determine which designation is best for you, check out the Sterlitech UF specifications table.

Also, we have a very limited stock of these items still available so get in touch with us immediately if you are interested in your last chance to secure this membrane!