In a well-received report in Science from 2008, Dr. Andrew Holt and his group from the University of Alberta, Canada, described how chemicals used as manufacturing additives can substantially inhibit enzymatic assays and binding studies by leaching into samples from plastic consumables. Eppendorf recently visited Dr. Holt's pharmacology lab with a film crew to ask him how experimental data can be affected and what he recommends to other scientists to ensure unaffected and reproducible results.

Daniel Wehrhahn, product manager responsible for consumables at Eppendorf, commented: ‘Dr. Holt's results clearly show that using pipette tips and microcentrifuge tubes from manufacturers that can confirm the absence of critical production additives leads to experimental results which are much more reliable and reproducible. Eppendorf high quality consumables are manufactured only from virgin polypropylene certified free of plasticizers, biocides or other unwanted additives which could leach into buffers and solvents, leading to false positive or false negative results in bioassays. Our material also complies with the FDA requirements for olefin polymers.'

Launched via the Eppendorf consumables web page, YouTube and social networking sites, the new video will quickly gain worldwide exposure, helping other researchers choose plastic consumables which are best suited to their assays. Scientific background information, recent publications and application data is also available on the website.

Eppendorf's clean-room manufacturing processes are fully automated and subject to continuous quality monitoring. In addition, fully-automated production and special optimised molds that work without slip agents - such as Oleamide or DiHEMDA - ensure that epT.I.P.S. pipette tips®, Eppendorf Tubes® and Eppendorf Plates® satisfy the requirements of demanding applications. Batch-specific purity certificates can be downloaded from the Eppendorf website.