THE EXPEDITION
Laboratories often take steps to control environmental conditions in order to
avoid impact on experimental and assay results. Sometimes lab work requires
pipetting under adverse conditions. Pipetting hot or cold fluids, or working
inside a walk-in incubator are some examples of “extreme” pipetting that occur in laboratories every day. Furthermore, as laboratories
work with smaller liquid volumes, even minor fluctuations can have a major
impact. For reliable data, it is critical that laboratories identify and
account for environmental variables.
The ARTEL Extreme Pipetting Expedition will demonstrate the impact of
environmental conditions on the accuracy and precision of pipettes. During this
multi-phase, year-long scientific study, ARTEL will visit locations in North
America with extreme ranges of common laboratory conditions, such as
temperature, barometric pressure and humidity.
The results and conclusions of the study will help laboratories understand how
environmental conditions affect volume accuracy and precision, so that they can
account for or eliminate these major sources of potential error.
