Used as an interface between a microplate and crushed ice, the Coolsink thermo-conductive plate holder enables fast equilibration of wells to below 4C, as well as well-to-well temperature uniformity.
A new application note published in Biotechniques demonstrates that, although it is commonly assumed that a plate in direct contact with crushed ice will rapidly equilibrate below 4C, this is not the case.
In fact, the unstable nature of crushed ice and insulating air gaps between plate and ice mean that uniform and reproducible cooling are very difficult to achieve.
Brian Schryver and Rolf Ehrhardt found that, for 96-well plates placed directly onto crushed ice, the average well temperature was 6.7C - significantly above the critical threshold of 4C.
Furthermore, the well-to-well temperature variation was as wide as 3C.
By contrast, placing a plate on Biocision's thermo-conductive Coolsink and then putting the assembly on ice brings all wells to or below 4C and the well-to-well temperature range was more uniform.
The addition of an aqueous conductive medium (ACM) to replace air between the plate and Coolsink surface further enhanced results, with even faster equilibration to a final temperature of 3.3C and less than 1C variation between wells, according to co-author Brian Schryver, Biocision vice president, research and product development.
Coolsink's precision-engineered direct-contact stage design eliminates the insulating air gap typically found between plate wells and the resting surface.
The module's excellent thermo-conductivity, due to its patented novel alloy construction, gives fast equilibration to below 4C and using an ACM produces near identical well temperatures.
This set-up provides a simple way for researchers to ensure that all their samples are treated uniformly, with no plate-edge effect.
Coolsink is suitable for increasing the reproducibility of results in a variety of applications, such as cell-based assays, ELISA, FACS staining and analysis, migration or adhesion studies, temperature shift assays or any work with temperature-sensitive biomarkers.
