Slot Pin Replicators provide an easy quantitative way to transfer liquids from microplates to membranes, MADGE gel wells, agar or to another microplate. The slots fill automatically by capillary action and then release the liquid to a surface or another liquid.  They can be used to make arrays when used with our registration accessories: COLONY COPIERS VP 380, VP 380D, LIBRARY COPIER™ VP 381, MULTI-PRINTS VP 382, VP 382B and VP 385.  The typical arrayed material is of cDNA, DNA, RNA, oligos, PCR products, PCR digests, BAC libraries, YAC libraries, plasmid libraries, cosmid libraries, phage display libraries, antibodies, antigens and antibiotics.

We can also make custom slot pins that will deliver as little as 6 nl to meet your specific needs.

Also see our 8, 12, 16 and 24 Replicator Strips with slot pins and 8, 12, 16 and 24 Floating Replicator Strips with slot pins. These are good for loading gels and making microarrays on glass slides.

The 22 mm long pins are better for loading MADGE Gels or inoculating onto an agar surface.  Both of the pins are used to make quantitative liquid to liquid transfers or liquid to membrane blots. 

Consequently, scientists can take advantage of this technique to concentrate small quantities of DNA or other binding substances onto a membrane. These membrane blots were photographed and scanned into a jpg file and the image processed on ImaGene™ software to capture and express the total ( integral ) blot pixel intensity. 

The total pixel intensity data are reported as the background subtracted mean +/- the Coefficient of Variation.  The ImaGene™ software is available through BioDiscovery, Inc. in Los Angeles, (310) 207-4463

Click here for a list of published articles that cite the products on this page.

Our trade mark guide pins insure that the pins line up with the wells when used with the VP 381A and VP 381B Library copiers (registration alignment frames).

The pin diameter is 4.75 mm and it protrudes 45 mm from the base.  This is deep enough to reach the bottom of a 2 ml deep well block.

For your convenience and a 5% discount, V&P Scientific has combined the essential components of our 96 and 384 pin MULTI-BLOT™ replication system into a starter kit to make up to 4 identical 864 or 1536 feature Macroarrays at once.  You select whichever slot pin MULTI-BLOT™ Replicator fits your application and delivery volume,  then just add it to the Basic Macroarray Starter Kit VP OK14 and you have everything you need to start making arrays.  Included in the Starter Kit are the following:
 

V&P Scientific, Inc. has developed a MADGE Gel Registration Blockthat provides a simple register of our 96 MULTI-BLOT™ Slot Pin Replicators to the wells in the MADGE Gel.  This greatly simplifies loading the MADGE Gel wells with PCR product.

The Registration Block visually aligns with the 96 wells in the MADGE Gel.  The two guide pins on the MULTI-BLOT™ Replicator fit into two alignment holes on the Registration Block and insure that the Replicator slot pins are aligned above the wells for accurate delivery. 

All of the V&P Scientific Slot Pin MULTI-BLOT™ Replicators have guide pins that are compatible with the alignment holes on the Registration Block, so any volume from 0.1 ul to 10 ul can be delivered to the wells.  However, most investigators use either the 2 ul or 5 ul Slot Pin MULTI-BLOT™ Replicators (VP 408S2 or VP 408S5)

Make a custom Slot Pin Replicator to fit your application.  Just select slot volume, pin length, pin diameter and pin format (48, 96, 384, 1536). 

The enlarged 0.787 mm diameter floating slot pins in the photo on the right illustrates our flexibility in making slots of different widths (0.25 mm to 0.45 mm) and depths.  The 0.787 mm diameter pins have the advantage of a very small foot print and yet can be slotted to carry a large volume of specimen.  For comparison purposes we have included a standard paper clip in the photo. 

All of the above pins can also be obtained with a hydrophobic/lipophobic coating.  Just adding an H to the above pin designates that pin as a hydrophobic/lipophobic coated pin.  This coating is metallic and only a few angstroms thick so it does not effect the basic dimensions of the pins.  These coated pins are very useful in handling solutions with proteins or lipids that may stick to naked stainless steel.  Click here for more details on the nature of our hydrophobic/lipophobic coating and the coating process.

If you are transferring DNA, cDNA or other materials in high surface tension solutions you will find that using our new V&P Pin Cleaning Solution will greatly increase the precision of delivery.  For an explanation see the FAQ page and the V&P Pin Cleaning Solution page.

Please visit this hyperlink for Pin Tool Data And Charts.

We suggest you buy a few inexpensive accessories that will make the Replicators more useful, easier, safer and more reproducible. 

The VP 381 is a Registration Device that aligns the Replicator pins to the center of the wells.  This is very important as you do not want the pins to touch the side of wells as you remove the pins because that will knock off the hanging drop at the pin tip.  The VP 381 LIBRARY COPIER™ is also used with our 96 pin Replicators to re-array from four, 96 well plates to one, 384 well plate or vice versa, to break out samples from one, 384 well plate to four, 96 well plates.

The VP 382 MULTI-PRINT™ is a registration device that allows you to make membrane arrays in an area the size of a standard microtiter plate with our Replicators.  Either four, 384 well plates or nine, 96 well plates can be arrayed into a 1536 or 864 array on the membrane.

After arraying from four, 384 well plates to one, 1536 membrane array (or nine, 96 well plates to one, 864 membrane array), the VP 430 Reading Mat helps locate which mother plate well produced a positive spot on the membrane array.

The VP 420 is a Glass Alcohol Reservoir that is used in the sterilization of the Replicators by flaming.  Some labs use plastic reservoirs, but if flaming alcohol drops into them the plastic burns, dumping flaming alcohol all over the counter.  This covered dish is also useful for storing the alcohol as well as VP 110 Pin Cleaning Solution (below) for reuse.  

The VP 425 is a Pin Cleaning Brush that is used to keep the Replicator pins clean so they will carry the same amount of liquid each time.   

Our VP 110 is a Pin Cleaning Solution that is used to clean and treat the pin tips when they can't be flamed.  

Integral to the cleaning process of all slot pins is the blotting step between baths.  Lint particles in the slots or pin tips, from blotting onto standard paper towels, will interfere with the loading and unloading of liquid.  The VP 522 is a Lint Free Blotting Paper that doesn't transfer lint particles to the slot pins as many blotting papers or paper towels can do.  We strongly recommend that you use these blotting pads placed over several layers of paper towels. 

These accessories are also found in the Basic Membrane Array Started Kit VP OK14 at a 5% discount.

The most important aspect of using pin tools is to start with clean pins and then keep them clean so they will consistently deliver the same volume.  We recommend our Pin Cleaning Solution (VP 110) to clean the pin of protein and other residue buildup before you start an assay.  To quickly and efficiently remove the previous transfer from the pin we have a wide variety of manual and robot wash reservoirs ranging from disposable polypropylene reservoirs (VP 576D) to reusable wash reservoirs, flowing reservoirs and fountains to clean  96, 384 and 1536 pin tools.  The robot wash stations are also adapted so the blotting station is part of the washing station thus reducing the cleaning cycle time and the number of robot stations required for the cleaning process.  We also have other independent blotting stations (VP 540D) and VP 522.

Integral to the cleaning process of all pins is the blotting step between baths.  Lint particles in the slots or on pin tips, from standard paper towels, will interfere with the loading and unloading of liquid.  We have solved this problem.  The VP 540DB blotting system is a tray with the standard microplate foot print that contains a super absorbent polypropylene pad covered by a Lint Free Blotting Paper.  We strongly recommend that you use this or our other lint free blotting systems. We have prepared a detailed technical note (Technote 31) which describes the step by step process of cleaning slot pins.