Rearrangement of the O-ring and Membrane in the Sepcon
The question arose last week about the affects of transport with use of the shaker in the Tecan, which led to a discussion about the current construction of the sepcon. The sepcon layout currently is as follows:
The o-ring is 1 mm in diameter. Is this difference between the membrane and the receiver fluid dead space? In commercial transwells the membrane is on the bottom and stirring will help transport. We are not sure that this is the case with the sepcon. So, if the the membrane and o-ring is switched as follows:
then the gap will be reduced.
The first experiment that needed to be done, before looking at transport with the use of the shaker, was to make sure that there was no leakage with this “new design.” The experimental layout involved HBSS, fluoroscein, a sepcon with the original design, and a sepcon with the membrane and o-ring switched. Each membrane contains no slits.
Results:
Closer look:
Switching the position of the o-ring and membrane causes no problems and will reduce the 1 mm space.