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Microplate Equipment

Microplate Equipment


Microplates and  Microplate equipment has been around since the early 60's. The following is an extract from Wikipedia: 

"The microplate was created in 1951 by a Hungarian, Dr. G. Takatsky, who machined 6 rows of 12 "wells" in Lucite.  However, common usage of the microplate began in the late 1950s when John Liner in USA had introduced a molded version. By 1990 there were more than 15 companies producing a wide range of microplates with different features. It was estimated that 125 million microplates were used in 2000 alone. The word "Microtiter" is a registered trademark of Cooke Engineering Company, and Thermo Electron OY is the last listed owner of the trademark. It is now more usual to use the generic term "microplate".

The microplate spawned a whole industry in the late 1970's stimulated by ELISA technology and the convenience of processing in small wells and the ability to bind antibodies to microplate wells. Add to this the opportunities to perform haem-agglutination tests, turbidity testing and a whole range of research applications and the microplate business rapidly accelerated. The humble microplate developed in shape and size, from 6 well to 1356 well. With these developments came the need to automate and analyse. Vertical light photometry, liquid handling equipment, plate processors and robots entered the fray as both diagnostics and research increased globally.

Now this market is increasingly sophisticated, but it still has its foundations in 1951! Multichannel pipettes, Microplate readers, microplate washers, microplate dispensers (piston driven and peristaltic pump tubing) and robots are manufactured by many companies and differ in complexity and technology. We have listed a few of the companies below who manufacture these products.