Automtic liquid level detection

Hello everyone:

I am looking for a device that can measure the amount of liquid in each well of a 96 well SBS format plate. It could be contact or non-contact, however I don't want to tie up a liquid handler such as PE Multiprobe or Hamilton to do this. It would be nice if there was a device that just had the same liquid level sensors on a dedicated device.

Specifically the main reagents will be:
1. 4-20ul Aqueous solution
2. 4-20ul 50% Glycerol

Does anyone know of such a device? Can it be done knowing concentration and using an absorbance reader.

Thanks,

Derek

No too certain how easy it'll be to measure 4-20ul of anything in a standard 96 well plate, that volume would probably just about cover the bottom of a flat-bottom well let alone give you anything a conductive tip could register. You maybe able to use a conductive-tip approach with V- or U-bottom plates, but again, how easy it'd be to measure any difference in volume is anyone's guess. Maybe the PathCheck feature of the MDC M5 (http://www.moleculardevices.com/pages/instruments/spectramax_m5.html) could be of use?

Hey Derek,
I can't think of any instrument that would do this off the shelf. Most I know of are really only to check the level of a resevoir.

If you're confident doing some electronics work you could probably use a fixed probe instrument and a microcontroller to measure your liquid levels fairly quickly. Most instrument software packages have a shell command that would allow you to read the data gathered by the controller about levels.

Lance

The Labcyte Echo may also be able perform this task if this (http://www.labcyte.com/products/hardware/550_555Brochure.pdf) pdf from the Labcyte website is anything to go buy.

Hello everyone:

I am looking for a device that can measure the amount of liquid in each well of a 96 well SBS format plate. It could be contact or non-contact, however I don't want to tie up a liquid handler such as PE Multiprobe or Hamilton to do this. It would be nice if there was a device that just had the same liquid level sensors on a dedicated device.

Specifically the main reagents will be:
1. 4-20ul Aqueous solution
2. 4-20ul 50% Glycerol

Does anyone know of such a device? Can it be done knowing concentration and using an absorbance reader.

Thanks,

Derek

Derek,

BioMicroLab has recently released a new product called VolumeCheck for reading volume in uncapped 96 well labware. You can visit our web site for additional technical information.

Thanks,