The Bullet Blender™

Homogenize 24 samples at a time!

The BULLET BLENDER™ enables you to homogenize, disrupt, or lyse 24 tissue or cell culture samples at a time.  Load the samples into polypropylene microcentrifuge tubes, then place them in the BULLET BLENDER™.  The "bullets" in the instrument vigorously strike all the sample tubes while in operation.  The Bullet Blender™ is now available with Air Cooling™ to preserve your sample quality!

	Fast, Consistent Results
	No Cross Contamination
	Samples Stay Cool
	Convenient
	Risk Free

“It's a very useful device for making tissue lysates.  We no longer use sonication for DNA, RNA and protein preparation from multiple tissue samples.”

Prof. Michael Sherman, Boston University School of Medicine

“The Bullet Blender has made our clinical lab much more efficient; we get consistent results in less time.  We cannot imagine going back to hand vortexing for our whole blood extractions.”

Kimberly Dumont, supervisor, Dartmouth Reference Lab

“I can count on it for fast consistent results.”

Dr. Denis Schewe, Mt. Sinai Medical Center,  New York City

“ What I've found is that the instrument works very well, is faster than the Bead Beater, accommodates more samples and is considerably quieter. . . . [I] get consistently uniform cell breakage.”

Dr. Joseph Geisberg, Harvard Medical School

The Bullet Blender™ Family

The BULLET BLENDER™ enables you to disrupt or homogenize many samples at a time, by incorporating patented striking technology.  The sample tubes are forcefully agitated thousands of times per minute, inducing vigorous motion of the substances inside the tubes.

Simply place your sample, some buffer, and optionally some beads in standard polypropylene tubes.  Place the tubes in the BULLET BLENDER™ and run for a few minutes.  Afterwards, place the sample tubes in a centrifuge to separate the lysate. 

Because the samples are in separate tubes and no probes contact the samples, cross contamination is very easy to prevent. 

The patented design requires very little power, so the motor will last for years.  Also, the motor will not heat up significantly, so the samples stay cool.   The addition of beads in the sample tubes allows disruption or thorough  homogenization of cells and tissues.  Tune the extent of disruption by adjusting the speed.

Air Cooling™ is an option on the microtube model and standard on the 50 mL tube model.  The Air Cooling™ entails fans which exchange air with their surroundings; they have nothing that actually chills the instrument.  Air Cooling™ is useful if you're running several sample cycles in a row or if your samples are extra sensitive to heating up.  Normally, the samples in the Bullet Blender™ only heat up a few degrees and stay quite cool.  However, if you're running a second batch of samples soon afterwards, they will heat up a little more because the Bullet Blender™ is starting out slightly warmer. The Air Cooling™ keeps the Bullet Blender™ cooler so that the first batch of samples heat up a little less and subsequent batches are kept just about as cool as the first batch.

Click here to see sample protocols or answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).

The Bullet Blender™ BLUE 50

Similar to the original Bullet Blender™, this model holds up to 9 of 50 mL tubes at a time.  The sample, lysis buffer, and beads should occupy no more than 15 ml of any tube to allow plenty of room for the sample and beads to slosh around.  While this version is not as good for tough tissue, it is ideal for cell culture and larger volume soft tissue samples, such as entire rat lungs.  This model requires BD Falcon™ or Krackeler brand polypropylene 50 ml tubes; tubes that are a slightly different size may not work properly.  Because of the longer processing times (about 3X longer than with microcentrifuge tubes), this version is only available with Air Cooling™.

The 3 BULLET BLENDER™ models

 * = for 1.5mL, 1.7mL, or 2.0mL tubes, respectively

Fast, Consistent Results

The BULLET BLENDER™ prepares up to 24 samples in just minutes.  All of the samples are automatically homogenized the same, so there is very little variation from sample to sample.  See the Protocols pages for preparation times and speeds.

No Cross-Contamination or Sample Loss

There are no probes or blades to cause cross contamination or sample loss.   The sample tubes are kept closed during agitation, as the cells or tissue are disrupted.  There are no probes to clean between samples.

Samples Stay COOL

The instrument uses very little power due to the unique, patented design, so there is very little heat build up in the instrument or inside the sample tubes.  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 cells or tissue, and optionally some beads, in standard tubes, and load the tubes into the BULLET BLENDER™.   Set the duration (typically several minutes) and speed (vigorousness).  There are no probes to clean.  It is much quieter than a sonicator and the samples stay cooler, too!

Risk Free Purchase

The BULLET BLENDERS™ come with a 30 day money back guarantee and a 2 year warranty. The simple, reliable design enables the BULLET BLENDERS™ to sell for one half to one fifth the price of ultrasonic or other agitation based instruments, yet provides an easier, quicker cooler technique.

“This past January [2008] we purchased a Bullet Blender from Next Advance.  ...  Let me begin by saying that we are extremely satisfied with the product! We have been able to implement it into a number of protocols that we use in our lab.  Other labs in our department have also taken a liking to the unit and have been using it along side our lab.”

Dr. Kyle Bender, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, CANADA

“The Bullet Blender™ lets us reduce variability and user error and increase productivity.”

Dr. Scott Gridley, Director of Protein Sciences, Blue Sky Biotech, Inc., Worcester, MA

“Using the Dounce homogenizer, I can process eight tumors in an hour and a half.  With the Bullet Blender™, I can homogenize twenty in fifteen minutes.”

Dr. Alejandro Adam, Albany Medical Center, New York

FEATURES

• Compact - The footprint is only 8in. (20cm) wide by 10in. (25cm) deep

• High Throughput

  • The Bullet Blender™ and Bullet Blender™ BLUE : twenty-four 1.5mL to 2.0mL microcentrifuge tubes

  • Bullet Blender™ BLUE 50: nine 50mL polypropylene tubes.

• Easy  - User friendly with only two settings to select: time and speed (up to 5 minutes for microcentrifuge tubes, up to 15 min. for 50 mL tubes.   Momentary on by pressing the "Start" button.

• Versatile - Use the Bullet Blender™ in different laboratory environments, including cold rooms (4°C to 60°C, avoid condensing conditions).  Requires only an electrical outlet for operation.

• CE certified 24V power supply, shipped with the proper plug configuration for your wall outlets.

• CE certified instruments with upgraded electronics available.

• Air Cooling™ on  "BLUE" models prevents the instrument from heating up when processing multiple rounds of samples.  The COOLEST homogenizer available!

• Patented striking technology.

• Built in the USA for years of trouble free use.

• Warranty: two years parts and labor, three years on the motor.

• 30-day money back guarantee.

BULLET BLENDER™ FAQs and Protocols

The graph illustrates a sample application: homogenizing up to 24 samples of chicken muscle in just 3 minutes.    Each tube had 0.2g chicken muscle in polysome lysis buffer (0.5% NP-40, 100mM KCl, 10mM HEPES, 5mM MgCl₂) with 0.2 g of 0.5 mm diameter glass beads.  The samples were centrifuged to collect the protein.   Note that more protein was recovered using 0.5mL buffer (in 2.0mL conical bottom tubes) than with 1.0mL buffer (in 1.5mL tubes).  Protein levels determined by Bradford assay.

Bullet Blender™ BLUE with the cover open, showing the 24 sample wells.

CDX24   BULLET BLENDER™ ........... $1,895  (plus shipping and taxes)

For homogenizing, mixing or vortexing in microcentrifuge tubes (1.5 to 2.0 mL), up to 24 at a time.

Includes the following:

·   the BULLET BLENDER™ instrument

·   operator's manual

·   24V DC Wall plug power supply (UL/CE)

·   Bead Sample Pack BSP-MC — contains 10mL centrifuge tubes of eight different bead types.

·   spatula for dispensing beads

CDX24-CE   BULLET BLENDER&trade, CE certified model ........... $2,095  (plus shipping and taxes)
Similar to CDX24 Bullet Blender&trade, with upgraded electronics and CE certification.

CDX24B   BULLET BLENDER™ BLUE ........... $2,195  (plus shipping and taxes)

The BULLET BLENDER™ BLUE improves upon the original Bullet Blender™ — the BLUE model has Air Cooling™ technology.  It keeps the samples from heating up when processing multiple rounds of samples.  This unit is also for homogenizing, mixing or vortexing in microcentrifuge tubes (1.5 to 2.0 mL), up to 24 at a time.

Includes the following:

·   the BULLET BLENDER™ BLUE instrument

·   operator's manual

·   24V DC Wall plug power supply (UL/CE)

·   Bead Sample Pack BSP-MC — seven different bead types in 10mL centrifuge tubes

·   spatula for dispensing beads

CDX24B-CE   BULLET BLENDER&trade BLUE, CE certified model ........... $2,395  (plus shipping and taxes)
Similar to CDX24B Bullet Blender&trade Blue, with upgraded electronics and CE certification.

CDX50B   BULLET BLENDER™ 50 BLUE  ........... $2,495  (plus shipping and taxes)

For use with 50 mL tubes, up to nine at a time, equipped with Air Cooling™.

Includes the following:

·   BULLET BLENDER™ 50 BLUE instrument

·   operator's manual

·   24V DC Wall plug power supply (UL/CE)

·   Bead Sample Pack BSP-50 — contains 10mL centrifuge tubes of seven different bead types.

CDX50B-CE   BULLET BLENDER&trade 50 BLUE, CE certified model ........... $2,695  (plus shipping and taxes)
Similar to CDX50B Bullet Blender&trade 50 Blue, with upgraded electronics and CE certification.

TUBES

Glass beads
(2.5 g/cc)
$30 per lb. (.45 kg)