New Technology for Cleaning Lab Tools

New technology utilizes a low temperature, atmospheric pressure plasma process that cleans and sterilizes metal and plastic pipetting devices and pin tools by removing organic substances from treated surfaces.

This TipCharger system uses plasma from ordinary room air to remove organic compounds through ionization, producing individual atomic gas species that instantly combine with oxygen. Because the process is highly reproducible, it also reduces the incidence of micro-bubble formation and other random surface effects that degrade liquid handling precision and accuracy. Plasma is commonly used to clean and sterilize medical devices. The new system was introduced in January 2005 at Lab Automation, the annual conference of the Association for Laboratory Automation, in San Jose (CA, USA).

The TipCharger was developed by Cerionx, Inc. (Pennsauken, NJ, USA), formerly called Microplate Automation. Several companies are licensed to distribute the TipCharger system. Cerionx is looking for additional partners to promote and distribute the product. Through such channels, the TipCharger will be made available to customers factory-installed on new equipment or as a retrofit module to currently installed equipment.

"Launching the TipCharger at LabAutomation 2005 is the culmination of four years of work by a dedicated team of physicists, engineers, and pharmaceutical scientists to bring this revolutionary technology to market,” commented Paul Hensley, president and CEO of Cerionx. "The meaning of Cerionx, ‘ionic lightning,' is intimately tied to our technology.”




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