A Team Effort in the Fight Against Oil Reservoir Souring

The Coates Lab at the University of California Berkeley focuses on environmental and fossil fuel microbiology, and relies on Rainin to maintain its large pool of pipettes.

Laboratory manager Anna Engelbrekston explained: “Our group’s research concentrates on oil reservoir microbes, specifically looking at inhibiting the production of hydrogen sulfide by sulfate reducing microorganisms, which causes oil reservoir souring. We perform a wide range of DNA and RNA studies, as well as colorimetric assays, HPLC and ion chromatography, and have in the region of 90 manual single channel pipettes, plus a dozen or so multichannels. A number of our pipettes are Rainin LTS, which are popular with everyone in the lab, as they are very comfortable and easy to use.”

“It is important that pipettes are serviced correctly to ensure accurate, reproducible results, and so, once a year, Rainin’s technicians visit our site to carry out the necessary servicing and calibration. As we use corrosive chemicals, one big advantage of Rainin’s service is that the technicians replace the pipette seals annually. Not all companies do this, and it makes a big difference; since we started using Rainin for our pipette servicing about three years ago, far fewer of our pipettes need to be sent for maintenance in between service visits. Everything is going very well.”