Hi Reader, what can help us to reduce over 90% of plastic waste - without switching to glass or changing processes?
Dispendix has found a way - especially in sensitive processes such as the cleanup of next-generation sequencing workflows.
They provided me with a deeper look into their solution through their sponsorship of this piece.
Therefore, let me explain a unique approach to reducing time and error rates that minimizes environmental impact.
Today's Lesson: Exploring Greener Workflows
How modern instrumentation reduces impacts and time
Number of the Day
Imagine your lab does next-generation sequencing. If it runs just five 96-well plates a day, you would need at least 1440 pipette tips for the cleanup. In larger institutions, where this likely represents the average workload, this adds up to over 13 kg of plastic waste per month from tips alone. Add about 15 tip boxes per day, and you end up with another 33 kg Cutting this to less than 1 kg while enhancing precision is what the G.PURE from Dispendixenables you to do. Let's see how that works.
1440
Effortlessly Making Workflows Greener
When I first heard of the G.PURE from Dispendix, I asked myself: how should a small instrument reduce plastic waste by >90%?
The simple answer: it doesn’t use pipette tips for the cleanup of nucleic acids in next-generation sequencing workflows.
Of note, the G.PURE comes with a dedicated tablet and very simple-to-use software that doesn't need any advanced training.
If you want to sequence DNA, you generally have to purify your sample – normally using beads.
That means you remove the supernatant, add beads, wait, remove supernatant, add ethanol, and remove it. Then, repeat this 1–3 times.
With at least 3 tips per well (per plate and per cycle), that adds up to at least 288 tips per plate. However, the number increases to 576 if you do 2 cycles or 864 with 3 cycles.
With 3 cycles and 5 plates per day, that is 129 600 tips per month!
Moreover, performing the cleaning cycle manually takes about 25 minutes!
I took this graphic from Dispendix. Shown is the average cleanup workflow—of course, labs differ in how many washing cycles and samples they use, affecting the time and tips involved.
The G.PURE only needs you to add your plate and release the DNA from the beads at the end.
That means it doesn’t need a single pipette tip and reduces the time to about 5 minutes!
How Does It Work?
After you insert your 96- or 384-well plate, the supernatant is removed via non-contact liquid evacuation.
In simple terms: you remove the liquid by centrifugation. This means there is no contamination risk, as radial forces move the liquid out of the well.
Watch the full demonstration video on this website.
The result is an extremely low residual volume of less than 0.1 µl.
Thereafter, the washing solution is added through a dispenser.
The trick: angled dispensing allows for gentler dispensing without ever touching the sample.
And finally, stronger magnets ensure minimal bead loss.
Beautiful simplicity. No risky steps or additional work for you, but clear savings:
Why It Makes Sense
The entire secret lies in the fact that centrifugation and dispensing don’t require plastic tips. That is it. But it matters.
Normally, you would use one tip per sample, per step, per washing cycle – in total often 2–8 tips per sample. Now, zero.
As we mentioned, you also cut time by a factor of 5–8x. That is about 1.5 hours per five plates - maybe even more since there are no pipetting errors no more!
Importantly, the G.PURE safeguards your sample. To prove this, single human and mouse cells were alternately sorted into a 384-well plate (row H empty) and then processed using Smart-seq3 for RNA extraction and cDNA library prep. Bead cleanup was performed with either a Bravo liquid handler or G.PURE. Sequencing reads were mapped to both genomes to assess cross-contamination (without masking conserved regions). Result: no detectable well-to-well contamination (personal communication, for other application notes, see here).
What is so great about this technology is that it is the perfect example of how smart instrumentation reduces impact without “threatening” us scientists.
It removes routine washing steps, allowing us to focus on what really counts – the science.
Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor Hi Reader, have you ever experienced a real supply shortage in science? When you cannot get the reagents or supplies you need, research stalls. It costs time, causes stress, and can even lead to instruments breaking down. However, in many developing countries, this is almost the norm: receiving supplies is frequently uncertain. Let’s therefore discuss how sustainable practices can help us survive these challenges. Today's Lesson: Sustainability Against...
Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor Hi Reader, you know that sustainability is easier when done together. Whether it’s finding allies, getting a helping hand, or obtaining numbers from administration. However, getting there often requires us to ask others for support - something many people find uncomfortable or difficult. So let me share 5 tips that I commonly use to make it easier: Today's Lesson: Asking the Right Questions Strategies and practices for approaching others Number of the...
Personal Note from Patrick, the Editor Hi Reader, what can you do to make your lab more sustainable? I’ve rarely heard anyone answer this question comprehensively. While plastic waste and water consumption are top of mind for many, the issue is much broader. Here are the key domains of sustainable laboratory practice you should be aware of: Today's Lesson: Aspects of Lab Sustainability Categories to think about when making labs greener. Number of the Day Today, we will explore the 11 domains...
