“System Duetz”
A mature, easy-to-use, and cost-effective technology platform for the high-quality cultivation in microplates of
large numbers of microbial strains, clonal libraries, mutant banks, CHO-cells, etc.
In comparison to Erlenmeyer flasks, the same quality in terms of mixing, oxygen-transfer rates and
reproducibility is readily achieved, provided the right orbital shaking conditions are applied (see our pages on
the hydrodynamics inside the wells during orbital shaking).
So-called “sandwich covers” and clamp systems are available for:
•
6-round and square well plates (3-35 ml cultures)
•
24-square deepwell and extra-high deepwell plates (2.5 - 8 ml cultures)
•
24-round lowwell plates (0.75 - 1 ml cultures)
•
96-square deepwell and half deepwell plates (0.3 - 0.75 ml cultures)
•
96-round lowwell plates (0.1 - 0.2 ml cultures)
The system was originally developped and validated at the Institute of Biotechnology of the ETH Zurich: read
the key publication from the year 2000 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (Duetz et al. 2000, pdf-file
[146 kb]).
Application areas:
- High-throughput screening for new enzyme activities or formation of secondary metabolites
(heterogeneous culture collections)
- Cultivation of CHO cells and other animal cell lines (see dedicated page on CHO-cells)
- Screening and distribution of clone libraries in E. coli or yeasts (see page on bacteria)
- High-throughput screening for high-activity or high-productivity mutants
(see page on bacteria)
- Comparative studies e.g. clinical isolates
- Growth medium optimization studies
Main components:
Sandwich covers convert all wells of microtiter plates into individual "mini-reactors" suitable for high-
frequency orbital shaking, at high oxygen transfer rates, and without well-to-well variations.
Cover clamps ensure that the deepwell plate and its sandwich cover are clamped together tightly,
thereby preventing well-to-well contamination.
The cryo-replicator: a precision spring-loaded device for the simultaneous and reproducible sampling of
96 frozen glycerol stocks. With the CRYO-REPLICATOR culture stocks remain viable for years because
they can remain frozen.
The cryo-replicator press is a guiding system ensuring accuracy during the replication of sets of strains
General procedure used to generate active
suspended cultures, starting from a master-plate
with 96 individual strains stored at - 80 ºC in the
presence of 15% (v/v) glycerol
Our cryo-replicator CR1000
First time on our site?
Watch our introductary videos:
One of our Sandwich covers: CR1296c
