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Design by DanubeNet

Innovative Lab Products for the Life Sciences

The Bullet Blender™ and Bullet Blender™ Blue
The early bird catches more worms...
and spends less time doing it!

Bullet Blender worm application

Your Caenorhabditis elegans samples stay cool
during homogenization!


The Bullet Blender™
and Bullet Blender™ Blue
Lyse E. coli and other cells. Homogenize or disrupt tissue. The Bullet Blender is quiet and user friendly.
> No Cross Contamination
> Samples stay cool
> Convenient
> Risk  Free
> Protocol development assistance

Homogenize up to 24 C. elegans samples
simultaneously-- in less than 5 minutes!

 

The Bullet Blender™ enables you to homogenize up to 24 samples (C. elegans or other tissues) in separate microcentrifuge tubes at a time.  Load up to 300mg worms with your grinding media and buffer in standard polypropylene microcentrifuge tubes.  Place the tubes into the Bullet Blender™ (pictured above) or Bullet Blender™ Blue.  The "bullets" in the "blender" vigorously strike all the sample tubes in a controlled manner, thousands of times per minute, inducing vigorous motion which provides efficient mixing.  With beads in the tubes, the samples become thoroughly homogenized.  Optimize the extent of tissue disruption by adjusting the speed, sample volume, buffer volume and quantity of beads.

Click here to see sample protocols.

> No Cross Contamination

The samples are homogenized (or mixed) non-invasively.  The sample tubes are kept closed during agitation, as the samples are processed.  There are no probes to clean between samples.

> Samples Stay Cool

The instrument uses very little power due to the unique, patented design.  It uses a small DC motor to agitate the individual tubes, not ultrasonics.   Also, because the motor does not need to agitate any heavy platforms or plates, it is small and will last for years.

> Convenient to Use

Simply place your roundworms and other tissue samples or cell cultures and some beads in standard high quality polypropylene tubes, and load the tubes into the Bullet Blender™.   Set the duration (typically a few minutes) and speed (vigorousness).  There are no probes to clean.  And it is quieter than a sonicator and does not heat up your samples more than a few degrees!

> Risk Free Purchase

The Bullet Blender™ comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and a two year warranty, with a three year warranty on the motor.  The simple, reliable design enables the Bullet Blenders™ to sell for a fraction  of the price of ultrasonic or other agitation based instruments, yet provides an easier, quicker technique.

> Protocol development assistance
We can help you use the Bullet Blender™, if protocols are lacking for your application.  Our Technical Support staff will advise you on setting up your experiment as well as troubleshooting the experiments which didn't turn out like you planned.
Potential Applications
  • homogenization
    • embryos
    • larvae
    • dauer stage
    • adult worms
    • dissected portions of worm tissue
  • washing prior to homogenization
  • permeabilization for in situ staining

The Bullet Blender™ home page shows the entire family of products and links to other applications.

Protocol for Brain Tissue Homogenization in the Bullet Blender

The protocol described in this document is for the use of the Bullet Blender™ for the homogenization of Caenorhabditis elegans cultures (larval, dauer, and adult). This protocol does not specify a particular buffer - you may choose which is most appropriate for your downstream application (nucleic acid isolation, protein extraction, etc.).

Materials Required:

worms, aspirator, Bullet Blender™, homogenization buffer, pipettor, microcentrifuge tubes, and 0.5mm zirconium oxidebeads (part number ZrOB05).

Instructions:
  1. Harvest worms from culture plate by washing (either with saline or water) into centrifuge tube.
  2. Centrifuge worm suspension to yield a pellet under the washing liquid (200-500g for five minutes).
  3. Completely aspirate the supernatant liquid.
  4. Inspect the volume of the pellet. It should be 300μL or less in order to get efficient homogenization.
  5. Add an equal volume of zirconium oxide beads (0.5mm) to the tube. One scoop of beads ≈ 50μL.
  6. Add 0.1mL to 0.6mL buffer (2 volumes of buffer for every volume of worms).
  7. Close the microcentrifuge tubes.
  8. Place tubes into the Bullet Blender™.
  9. Set controls for SPEED 8 and TIME 2 to 3 minutes.
  10. Remove tubes from the instrument.
  11. Visually inspect samples, if homogenization is unsatisfactory, run for another two minutes at the SPEED 10.
  12. Proceed with your downstream application.
SAFETY NOTE!!!

When using a centrifuge to separate your homogenate from the debris and beads, make sure your tubes are balanced.