Within the next few months, Omni International will be introducing the new Omni LH96 Automated Homogenizer Workstation.  The LH96 is a fully automated laboratory workstation that can be configured to batch process up to 192 samples (dependant upon sample tube sizes).  This new product homogenizes samples using four brushless motors, which will be able to independently power disposable and stainless steel Omni Tip™ style generator probes.  Brushless motors will greatly reduce the amount of noise inside labs, and will allow consistent processing of samples using patented Omni Tip™ products.  When comparing this sound level to four conventional motor drives, you will experience a significantly quieter lab environment.

Operator error can result from manually homogenizing a large number of samples per day.  Having a fully automated homogenizer in your laboratory will allow you to load the unit and walk away while it processes your samples.  This in turn will allow you to do something else productive.

Bead Milling is one of the many technologies used for grinding, lysing and homogenization of laboratory samples. Bead Mills are typically used for samples that are difficult to disrupt with standard mechanical laboratory homogenizers. These sample types include tumor, heart, e-coli, yeast, bone, skin, cartilage, spores, seeds and soil. Bead Mills can also be used to extract nucleic acids and proteins and can be used with difficult to process cells such as cyanobacteria, mycobacteria, and microalgae.

Bead Mills employ very small glass, ceramic or steel beads. These beads are placed in a vessel along with the sample media. The vessel, beads and sample are vigorously agitated by shaking or stirring. Disruption of the sample occurs as the beads collide rapidly with the cells. A combination of the grinding beads and rotational effect produces a faster, more reliably effective lysing process for biological samples. Typically, a higher volume ratio of beads to cells produces a faster rate of cell disruption.

Designed to Save Time, Improve Yield, and Eliminate Cross-Contamination

by Karl Jahn

Rotor–stator technology is a highly efficient method utilized by many laboratories to homogenize, disrupt, emulsify, and blend a broad range of samples, including tissue samples. As a result, rotor–stator homogenizers are used whenever possible for most laboratory homogenizing tasks. Sample processing times are generally very short, homogenization is fast and efficient, and sample temperature rise is minimized or eliminated. First invented by Prof. Peter Willems in 1957, rotor–stator homogenizing remained relatively unchanged for nearly 35 years.

Plastic Homogenizing Probes

In 1992, Omni International, Inc. (Marietta, GA) invented the first plastic rotor– stator homogenizing probes, known as the Omni Tips™ (Figure 1). This marked the first significant improvement to this venerable technology and completely revolutionized rotor–stator homogenization (patent numbers 6,398,402 B1 and 6,863,431). Stainless steel homogenizing probes, still used in many laboratories, usually require a tedious cleaning step between samples.