Choosing a Multi-sample Cell Disrupter
To date there are nine Multisample Bead Mill Cell Disrupters on the market: The MiniBeadbeater-8, MiniBeadbeater-16, MiniBeadbeater-96, the MagNA Lyser, the Precellys 24, the FastPrep 24, the Model 2000 Geno/Grinder, the Talboys Homogenizer and the Retsch MM 300. A tenth alternative, commercial paint shakers, has proven to be unacceptable for most applications. The shaking motion of paint shakers rotate or resonate about a central axis, thus giving non-homogeneous cell disruption across the microplate platform.
When "shopping" for a commercial Multisample Bead Mill Cell Disrupter there are several important features to consider. Sample capacity and price are obvious considerations, of course, but one should also look at vial orientation during shaking (vials with the axis oriented horizontally and the shaking action in a like direction give faster, more complete cell lysis than vials held in an upright position and shaken in an up and down motion. Even poorer performance is obtained when the vials are shaken shaken from side to side, no matter what the orientation). High shaking speeds and adequate shaking distances are also important. Compromise on the later two properties in the shaker and it can take up to 10X longer to get good cell disruption and/or one must use costly, dense beads which generate more heat during homogenization. Perhaps the most important consideration is high shaking energy (for example, see "Retsch MM 300 vs. BioSpec MBB-96", below)
Another, less essential but desirable feature is the capability to shake both vials and microplates or to shake vials of different size on the same machine . And, look for an efficient, easy-to-use plate or vial clamping mechanism. Microplates should be clamped into a holder designed to press down on the of vial caps, or the entire surface area of microplate mat/membrane to the microplate.
A comparison. Retsch MM 300 vs. BioSpec MBB-96: The BioSpec Products MBB-96 is a much more powerful shaker than the Retsch MM 300 - compare a 1288 watt motor versus 184 watt motor. In addition, the MBB-96 is significantly less expensive - compare $4100 versus $7500 (or more). Our MBB-96 cell disrupter has a two year warranty and, being made in the USA, can be quickly serviced, if needed.
From a performance standpoint, the high power of our MBB-96 cell disrupter assures complete cell breakage in 1 to3 minutes using low cost glass or ceramic beads. Because of this superior shaking energy it does not require the use of heavier, more expensive (and sometimes contaminating) stainless steel or tungsten carbide beads. While less energetic machines will disrupt cells, it takes much longer to get equivalent good cell disruption (we know because we built weaker machines in the course of developing the final MBB-series of cell disupters!). If extracting nucleic acids, we counsel our users to do the cell disruption directly in the nucleic acid extraction media, thus shortening extraction time and eliminating possible degradation of the RNA or DNA. Extraction media can be prepared "in house" or purchased from various commercial "kit" manufacturers. The MBB-96 holds either 48 standard microtubes (which can be kept cold in a solid aluminum block, if needed), one 2 ml 96-deepwell microplate, two 1ml 96-deepwell microplates, or four standard sized microplates.
Bottom line: The MBB-96 is more powerful, faster acting, and sells at a lower price. Sample capacity is equal to or exceeds that of competitive machines. BioSpec Products, the company who first introduced the "beadbeating" technique for cell disruption into the laboratory thirty years ago, is a quality source for technical expertise and prompt service.
Comments from a Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Lab*
"We have now tested the MiniBeadBeater-96 with two different sets of samples, with more than 100 samples processed. It seems to perform comparably with the single channel units we have from BioSpec, which is a very pleasant surprise. We are able to isolate DNA from purified Bacillus spores, which have proved to be too difficult for all of the other commercially available, multi-channel instruments we have tried."
*Not to be taken as an endorsement by LLNL or its affiliates.
..........from Ontario Veterinary College
"We received your MiniBeadbeater and put it to use immediately. It is just as promised, easy to use, and our tissue homogenization and resultant RNA isolation has improved drastically!!
...........and from Steve @emu.edu:
I'm shopping around for a
bead-beater kind of homogenizer, and the
MiniBeadbeater-16 looks great, price-wise anyway, compared to
the Qbiogene Fastprep, and other similar products.
Why is it so much cheaper? For 30 years our philosophy
has been to offer novel scientific equipment at reasonable prices. BioSpec
accomplishes this in two ways: 1) We can often design and build equipment around
low cost, mass marketed tools and appliances, thus taking advantage of economy
of scale. Examples are the motors in the TissueTearor and the BeadBeater. 2)
For product promotion we rely mostly on word-of-mouth and literature
references. Advertising and other forms of marketing and promotion can be
extremely expensive . We advertise but only modestly. In many cases, product
promotion constitutes over 50% of the final sales price of scientific equipment!