Is there an easy way to punch out plastic well plates

[Earl_Sanford]

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I have a user that insists on growing their cells in plastic well plates and am
trying to come up with a good way to punch or cut out individual wells without
disturbing the cells too much. My thought is that if I can cut the wells out I
can flip them over in a glass bottom petri dish or examine them straight down
in a petri dish with water dippers.

If anyone knows of a tool that work well to do this I would greatly appreciate
hearing about it - particularly if it performs well in 96 and 384 well plates. Any
tips on convincing researchers to switch over to glass bottom plates would
also be appreciated. We have tried showing them the difference in image
quality between samples grown on glass versus plastic but can not seem to
get them to switch.

Thanks,
Earl Sanford

[Oshel, Philip Eugene]

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I used to do this using a core borer. Find the size borer just big
enough to fit the well, and gently heat it. The hot borer will cut
the well bottom free around the edges. Use a forceps or something on
one edge and poke that edge up into the bore, rotating the plastic
disc. Grab the edge that rotates down, and remove it from the borer.
But be quick. I did this on 96 well plates, 384 well plates may not work.

Phil
You're at Corning, and they don't like glass?

>*****
>To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
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>
>I have a user that insists on growing their cells in plastic well
>plates and am
>trying to come up with a good way to punch or cut out individual wells without
>disturbing the cells too much. My thought is that if I can cut the wells out I
>can flip them over in a glass bottom petri dish or examine them straight down
>in a petri dish with water dippers.
>
>If anyone knows of a tool that work well to do this I would greatly appreciate
>hearing about it - particularly if it performs well in 96 and 384
>well plates. Any
>tips on convincing researchers to switch over to glass bottom plates would
>also be appreciated. We have tried showing them the difference in image
>quality between samples grown on glass versus plastic but can not seem to
>get them to switch.
>
>Thanks,
>Earl Sanford

--
Philip Oshel
Microscopy Facility Supervisor
Biology Department
024C Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
[phone]

[Ignatius, Mike-2]

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Long ago I used a hot wire stretched tight to cut the bottoms off of plastic 96 well round bottomed wells- caught them in a an arrayed rack of tubes underneath.  96 wells in 10 seconds.  Do it in a fume hood though.

The strongest case against plastic bottoms is the long working distance and thus low NA objectives that have to used.  Loss of resolution and signal.  

Mike Ignatius



-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Philip Oshel
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 1:04 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Is there an easy way to punch out plastic well plates

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

I used to do this using a core borer. Find the size borer just big
enough to fit the well, and gently heat it. The hot borer will cut
the well bottom free around the edges. Use a forceps or something on
one edge and poke that edge up into the bore, rotating the plastic
disc. Grab the edge that rotates down, and remove it from the borer.
But be quick. I did this on 96 well plates, 384 well plates may not work.

Phil
You're at Corning, and they don't like glass?

>*****
>To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>*****
>
>I have a user that insists on growing their cells in plastic well
>plates and am
>trying to come up with a good way to punch or cut out individual wells without
>disturbing the cells too much. My thought is that if I can cut the wells out I
>can flip them over in a glass bottom petri dish or examine them straight down
>in a petri dish with water dippers.
>
>If anyone knows of a tool that work well to do this I would greatly appreciate
>hearing about it - particularly if it performs well in 96 and 384
>well plates. Any
>tips on convincing researchers to switch over to glass bottom plates would
>also be appreciated. We have tried showing them the difference in image
>quality between samples grown on glass versus plastic but can not seem to
>get them to switch.
>
>Thanks,
>Earl Sanford

--
Philip Oshel
Microscopy Facility Supervisor
Biology Department
024C Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
[phone]

[Moninger, Thomas]

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I've found that disposable surgical cauterizers also work well.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ignatius, Mike
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 3:14 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Is there an easy way to punch out plastic well plates

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Long ago I used a hot wire stretched tight to cut the bottoms off of plastic 96 well round bottomed wells- caught them in a an arrayed rack of tubes underneath.  96 wells in 10 seconds.  Do it in a fume hood though.

The strongest case against plastic bottoms is the long working distance and thus low NA objectives that have to used.  Loss of resolution and signal.

Mike Ignatius



-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Philip Oshel
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 1:04 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Is there an easy way to punch out plastic well plates

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

I used to do this using a core borer. Find the size borer just big
enough to fit the well, and gently heat it. The hot borer will cut
the well bottom free around the edges. Use a forceps or something on
one edge and poke that edge up into the bore, rotating the plastic
disc. Grab the edge that rotates down, and remove it from the borer.
But be quick. I did this on 96 well plates, 384 well plates may not work.

Phil
You're at Corning, and they don't like glass?

>*****
>To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>*****
>
>I have a user that insists on growing their cells in plastic well
>plates and am
>trying to come up with a good way to punch or cut out individual wells without
>disturbing the cells too much. My thought is that if I can cut the wells out I
>can flip them over in a glass bottom petri dish or examine them straight down
>in a petri dish with water dippers.
>
>If anyone knows of a tool that work well to do this I would greatly appreciate
>hearing about it - particularly if it performs well in 96 and 384
>well plates. Any
>tips on convincing researchers to switch over to glass bottom plates would
>also be appreciated. We have tried showing them the difference in image
>quality between samples grown on glass versus plastic but can not seem to
>get them to switch.
>
>Thanks,
>Earl Sanford

--
Philip Oshel
Microscopy Facility Supervisor
Biology Department
024C Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
[phone]


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