Coating Tubes with 1% BSA

The loss of material can have a negative impact on the success of an experiment, particularly when handling low-concentration nucleic acids or cells/cell nuclei. A frequent cause of loss of material when working with plastics tubes (or plates) is an incompatible plastics surface leading to adherence of sample material. To overcome this, one can use LoBind tubes or coat standard eppis or PCR tubes with 1% BSA-PBS, following the below decribed procedure:

  1. Prepare 1% BSA from 7.5% BSA stock (e.g. Gibco #15260037) by diluting BSA with 1X PBS (e.g. 2 mL BSA + 13 mL PBS)

  2. Aliquot 1 mL in each 1.5 mL tube.

  3. Leave it at room temperature for 1 hour.

  4. Put it at 4°C o/n

  5. Store tubes at -20°C for long term

  6. Before use, thaw at room temperature and remove the full content from the tube. If the tube is used for sorting, about 5µl may remain in the tube

When using low bind tubes we would recommend the low bin tubes from Eppendorf.

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