BioSpec Products, Inc.
The company manufactures a line of laboratory scale homogenizer/cell disrupters that utilize small glass or ceramic beads to achieve complete disruption. The BeadBeater has a working volume of 15 to 350 ml. The Mini-BeadBeater utilizes a 2 ml microcentrifuge vial to homogenize small volumes. A multiple sample Mini-BeadBeater-8 is also available. The "8" homogenizes 8 of the 2 mL vials in one 3 minute session. These units are unequaled for microbial cell disruption and nucleic acid extraction.
Our line of products includes two rotor/stator type, hand-held or stand mounted homogenizers. These products are designed to homogenize plant and animal tissue and also to prepare oil/water emulsions. The Tissue-Tearor, with its three probe sizes, has a working volume of 0.3 to 1000 mL. The BioHomogenizer comes in two sizes, one for sample volumes from 1 to 200 mL and the other for 100 to 1000 mL.
BioSpec Products manufactures the BioPulverizer a cryogenic tissue fragmenter. This device fragments solid tissue samples to a powder after being embrittled in liquid nitrogen. It is available in three working volumes of 10-100 mg, 0.1-1.0 g, and 1.0- 10 g. Larger units includes a unique, spring-loaded hammer. Another device which does not require added buffer during homogenization is the MicroMincer. It is a hand-held mechanical press for homogenizing milligram quantities of tissue. A 100-500 mg sample is squeezed through a 250 micron screen at high pressure and comes out like toothpaste. Both devices are used as a priliminary step to mechanical and/or chemical cell disruption and extraction.
Our line of mixers and stirrers includes the patented BioVortexer, which uses small, disposable plastic stir rods to disperse centrifugal pellets and mix constituents in microcentrifuge tubes. And our new TubeTickler, which looks somewhat like a common laboratory vortexer, mixes the contents of microtubes with a unique slapping action capable of quickly dispersing even the most difficult pellets. The BioMixer is a general purpose, hand-held mixer/blender that comes complete with several mixing attachments.
Other products available include the BioRotator-6, a rotational mixer with six speeds and fully adjustable mixing angles from horizontal to vertical for a variety of gentle rocking, rotation or tumbling applications. It can hold micro centrifuge tubes, microtiter plates, trays, and roller bottles. The unit is compact enough to fit in an incubator.