Pipetting small volumes

A guide to accurately pipette small volumes using an automatic pipette.
La Trobe Institute of Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Australia

[@timecode37]

The volume in the pipette tip is going to be very inaccurate if you hold it pretty much 90 degrees to the side - always pipette within an angle of 20°, ideally perfectly straight. This is especially important when pipetting really small volumes, where your technique has to be really on point. Try to reverse pipette if the standard forward technique doesn't work when dealing with viscous solutions, as enzymes often come in. Another small source of error can come from setting the micrometer from a lower value than you started with - it's good practice to turn a third of a rotation of the plunger/volume adjustment knob over the desired volume and then set to it from there. This reduces some source of error from the mechanical components in the pipette, but its a very low source of error 0.2% iirc. But if you have to pipette 1 µL accurately, you just might have to

[@iankerr5340]

really useful - making my project students watch this before they get into the lab next week for their PCR reactions

[@mohamedelafia4956]

That s not professional. Never ever leave pipette on the tish lying and always vertical!!

[@jamalimurtaza6527]

Good

[@falgunibarman8259]

Helpfull