New Multichannel Pipette Facilitates High-Throughput RNA Isolation

A new advanced multichannel pipette facilitates procedures such as a solid phase extraction-microplate method for reproducible, high throughput isolation of high quality, DNA-free total RNA.

Integra Biosciences (Zizers, Switzerland and Hudson, NH, USA) introduces the use of its new VIAFLO 384 electronic 384-channel pipette for procedures such as the high throughput isolation of total RNA. VIAFLO 384, an advanced version of Integra’s VIAFLO 96, is capable of both 96- and 384-channel pipetting via interchangeable heads, offering the benefits of an increased sample throughput option as well as lower sample and reagent use without the high expense of investing in a robotic liquid handling system. Designed to be used like a standard handheld pipette, the VIAFLO 384 requires no specialized skills or training for operation. It is also benchtop sized and can fit into laminar flow hoods.

VIAFLO 384 (and VIAFLO 96) is hand guided but movements are assisted by motors, enabling effortless and precise workflow. Pushing in one direction steers the pipetting head, making VIAFLO 384/96 intuitive to operate and freeing staff from training time. The VIAFLO 384 also features Integra’s popular “Touch Wheel” pipette-user interface, enabling simple and fast programming of a wide range of pipetting modes, including repeat dispense, serial dilute, and mixing routines. Up to 10 predefined pipetting modes are available to minimize set up time; alternatively, personalized custom programs can be created to suit diverse application needs.


Large-scale gene expression screening projects require reliable high-throughput methods to isolate high quality RNA from a large number of samples. To meet this need, a growing number of 96-well format RNA isolation kits are commercially available and are typically compatible with commonly used 96-well plate vacuum manifolds enabling the RNA extraction procedure to be accelerated. The video shows the use of the VIAFLO 384 handheld electronic pipette in conjunction with vacuum manifold, 96-well solid phase extraction (SPE) microplate, and RNA isolation kit to reproducibly extract high quality total RNA from cells.


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