Cell culture and microbiology consumables, mostly from Globe Scientific's Diamond SureGro line. They include sterile culture flasks from 25 cm² to 225 cm², culture plates from 6 to 384 wells, TC-treated 35 mm and 100 mm culture dishes, 100 × 15 mm polystyrene Petri dishes with a dish rack, sterile and non-sterile culture tubes, L- and T-shaped cell spreaders, and 96-well microtest plates with lids.
How to choose
Culture dish or Petri dish?
Petri dishes are plain polystyrene. They are for pouring agar and plating bacteria and fungi, where nothing needs to attach to the surface. Culture dishes are tissue-culture treated: the polystyrene surface is modified to be wettable and charged, so adherent mammalian cells attach and spread. Using an untreated dish for adherent cells is one of the most common reasons a culture fails to take.
Which flask size should I use?
Choose by growth area. A 25 cm² flask suits thawing a vial or starting a small culture. 75 cm² is the routine passaging size, and 182 cm² and 225 cm² flasks are for expansion. A working rule is roughly 0.2 to 0.3 mL of medium per cm² of growth area, which puts a 75 cm² flask at about 15 to 22 mL.
Flat, U or V-bottom microtest plate?
Flat-bottom wells give an even optical path, so they are the choice for absorbance reads and adherent cells. U-bottom (round) wells mix well and gather cells into a single aggregate. V-bottom wells funnel everything to a point, recovering the most from small volumes and giving the clearest read on agglutination and pellet assays.
How many wells per plate?
Fewer, larger wells give more cells per condition: 6-well plates are for expanding or harvesting protein and RNA. 24- and 48-well plates suit dose-response work. 96-well is the screening standard. 384-well cuts reagent use for automated, high-throughput assays, but it needs liquid handling that can place a few microlitres accurately.
