Microplates

A microplate, also known as a microtiter plate, microwell plate is a flat plate with multiple “wells” used as small test tubes. The microplate is a standard tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing laboratories. There are microplates for just about every application in life science research which involves filtration, separation, optical detection, storage, reaction mixing, cell culture and detection of antimicrobial activity. A microplate typically has 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 384 or 1536 sample wells arranged in a 2:3 rectangular matrix. Each well of a microplate typically holds somewhere between tens of nanolitres to several millilitres of liquid. The wells can be either round or square, the bottom flat, round or conical. Microplates can be stored at low temperatures for long periods, may be heated to increase the rate of solvent evaporation from their wells and can even be heat-sealed with foil or clear film. The enormous growth in studies of whole live cells has led to an entirely new range of microplate products which are “tissue culture treated” especially for this work. The surfaces of these products are modified using an oxygen plasma discharge to make their surfaces more hydrophilic so that it becomes easier for adherent cells to grow on the surface which would otherwise be strongly hydrophobic.