Mini-Beadbeater-Plus

The new Mini-Beadbeater-Plus™ is a high-energy bead-mill designed to violently agitate up to a half gram sample of biological material sealed inside a 2 ml microcentrifuge vial containing tiny glass, zirconia, or steel lysing beads. The grinding action of the beads (beadbeating) rapidly disrupts microorganisms and plant and animal tissue in 5-99 seconds.

Because cell disruption occurs inside sealed microvials, cross-contamination during homogenization is completely eliminated - an important feature for nucleic acid isolation.  Sterile technique is easily accommodated for recovery of intracellular virus and bacteria from plant and animal cells and the non-foaming, non-aerosol method is ideal for recovery of enzymes, membranes and intracellular organelles.

The Mini-Beadbeater-Plus is also used for dry- or cryo-grinding.  Heavier zirconia or steel beads and special breakage-resistant microvials are used.  Hard samples such as hair, bone, teeth, seeds, and minerals are powdered in 5 - 30 seconds.  All protocols developed with the Mini-Beadbeater-Plus are transferable to larger, higher-capacity Mini-Beadbeater models. 

Link to Selected Applications Using the Mini-Beadbeater.