The Eppendorf MixMate was developed to allow efficient and controlled mixing of small sample volumes from 5 µl to 2 ml in all types of tubes and plates up to 384-well formats. To compare the mixing performance of the MixMate with competitor devices, different test samples covering a broad range of possible applications and sample properties (e.g., buffer composition, viscosity, density) were mixed in 96- and 384-well plates. The data presented herein records the mixing duration and visual mixing efficiency of Eppendorf MixMate and 8 competitor devices. The summary chart shows that MixMate outperformed all other instruments in this regards. In combination with its 2-dimensional mixing stroke that eliminates uncontrolled, chaotic movements, MixMate thus enables fast and reliable mixing results and an improved reproducibility of experimental conditions.

Isolation of genomic DNA from mouse tails with magnetic beads can be automated with the epMotion pipetting system from Eppendorf. The Invitek InviMag® Tissue DNA Kit and the Invitrogen ChargeSwitch® gDNA Micro Kit were used in this study. Combining the epMotion 5070 with the Eppendorf MixMate for efficient mixing of magnetic beads in 96 well deepwell plates, a semi-automated isolation protocol was established for small sample numbers. Alternatively, a fully automated isolation method was developed on the epMotion 5075 LH. We demonstrate here that the isolated gDNA is suitable for sensitive downstream applications such as qPCR. All qPCR assays were set-up with the same epMotion that was being used for the purification process. Using either the purified DNA or highly pure commercially available mouse genomic DNA from Blood (Promega) as templates in the PCR reactions, results from a GAPDH qPCR assay were compared.

Viscous liquids such as glycerol or polyethylene glycol (PEG) are often used as a nonaqueous solvent for drugs, vaccines or dyes or serve as antifreeze and stabilizing agents in protein solutions. Because of their high viscosity these solvents are hard to mix and place specific demands on the performance of laboratory mixers. The aim of this work was to analyze the performance of Eppendorf benchtop mixer MixMate in mixing highly viscous solutions. Therefore, we determined experimentally the maximum glycerol concentration being efficiently mixed by MixMate in different plate and tube formats.
Results presented herein show that MixMate is able to efficiently mix glycerol solutions up to 90 % at 20°C which corresponds to a viscosity of 219 Centipoise (cP), i.e., approx. 219-fold the viscosity of water. The best mixing performance was found for vessels with a wide diameter and flat bottom.
In general, the mixing performance of MixMate allows fast and efficient mixing of aqueous solutions as well as highly viscous samples.

This Technical Note deals with the hand-arm vibration strain transmitted through the Eppendorf vortex mixer MixMate as compared to a common competitor’s instrument. The results of these investigations show that due to the 2DMix Control Technology the MixMate causes considerably lower vibration strain than the competitor’s instrument examined in parallel. Using the MixMate, more tubes may be mixed per day without the risk of excessive strain to the hand-arm region.

The Eppendorf Eporator achieves efficient transformation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. When using electrocompetent cells, the Eporator yields reproducibly high transformation results.

Achieving optimal mixing results, especially in the 384-well format, can be an elusive goal. Mixing efficiency is frequently determined through visual observations. Our research indicates that these observations for effective mixing are too qualitative and subjective, which can lead to acceptance of non-optimally mixed sample solutions and false conclusions. Therefore, we have developed a quantitative method that allows a user to test a specific mixing device or protocol by using dual-dye photometry.