Piko® PCR Plate Technical Data

• Piko Demonstration Movie
• Ultra-thin wall PCR Results
• Thermal Response of Sample in UTW® Tube
• Ultra-Thin Wall Dimensional Data
• Ultra-thin Wall Tube Concentricity

Watch the Piko Demonstration Movie

Click on a link below to download a quicktime demonstration movie (Requires Apple QuickTime 7).

Piko demonstration movie high resolution (15.2 MB)
Piko demonstration movie medium resolution (5.7 MB)
Piko demonstration movie low resolution (2 MB)

UTW Vessels Provide Optimal Results on a Piko® Thermal Cycler Using Phusion® DNA Polymerase From Finnzymes

This side-by-side comparison clearly demonstrates better yields and more consistent results when using UTW tubes. An identical 2-step ultra-fast PCR was performed on a Piko 24-well cycler using either UTW tubes or a competitor’s fast tubes. PCR samples derived from each of the 24-wells were run on an agarose gel indicating the 400 bp product was specifically amplified, albeit at variable and lower efficiencies for the “competitor fast tube” samples (see lanes 3 – 6, 12 – 14, and 19 – 22).

Thermal Response of Sample in UTW® Tube

Ultra-thin walls provide speedier thermal responses of PCR samples. A 30 ul sample in either a 0.2 ml conventional thin-walled tube (red) or a UTW tube (blue) was quickly cycled and the thermal profiles of the samples were measured using a tiny, calibrated thermistor. The conventional tubes cause the sample to lag by more than 5 °C and 10 s (never achieving programmed temperature even after 15 s).

Ultra-Thin Wall Dimensional Data

Shown is cross section of the ultra-thin wall of a UTW 96-well tube as compared with the three competitors. The UTW vessel wall is roughly half the thickness of the competitors resulting in optimal thermal transfer to the sample.

• On average the UTW vessels offer 52% thinner walls than competitor vessels
• On average the UTW vessels offer 10x more uniform thickness as measured from well-to-well

Ultra-Thin Wall Tube Concentricity

UTW well walls are much thinner and remarkably concentric. Two wells from various 96-well microplates were cut to reveal a cross-sectional view of the walls. Note the non-uniform (as indicated by arrows) and thick walls of the competitor “thin-walled” plates.

• Concentricity measures the thickness of wall at various points (4 in this case) along the circumference of tube
• UTW vessels offer highly concentric walls within the thinnest portion of tubes
• UTW vessels offer 3x to 20x more concentricity than competition
• More concentric means:
• More even heating of sample
• Less likely to fracture during stress