Skip to main content
  • Where to buy
  • Company
    • About us
    • Careers
    • Events
  • Support
    • Laboratory Planning
    • Register a Product
    • Register Your Product (USA & Canada Only)
  • Contact
  • U.S.A.
  • Deutschland
  • España
  • France
  • Italia
  • Brasil
  • 日本
  • 中国
Home ELGA LabWater
  • Products
    • PURELAB
    • CENTRA
    • MEDICA
    • BIOPURE
    • ELGA Full Product Range
  • Applications
    • Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
    • Clinical Biochemistry
    • Electrochemistry
    • Gas Chromatography
    • General lab water requirement
    • Immunochemistry
    • Liquid Chromatography
    • Mass Spectrometry
    • Microbiology
    • Molecular Biology
    • Spectrophotometry
  • Technologies
    • Activated Carbon
    • Electrodeionization (EDI)
    • Filtration
    • Ion Exchange
    • PureSure
    • Reverse Osmosis
    • Ultraviolet
  • Impurities In Water
    • Dissolved Gases
    • Inorganic Compounds
    • Microorganisms & Bacteria
    • Organic Compounds
    • Particulates
  • Knowledge
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Ultrapure water
    • Guides and White Papers
  • Products
    • PURELAB
    • CENTRA
    • MEDICA
      • Hubgrade
      • MEDICA BIOX
    • BIOPURE
    • ELGA Full Product Range
      • PURELAB® Classic
  • Applications
    • Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
    • Clinical Biochemistry
    • Electrochemistry
    • Gas Chromatography
    • General lab water requirement
    • Immunochemistry
    • Liquid Chromatography
      • Hochleistungsflüssigkeitschromatographie (HPLC)
    • Mass Spectrometry
    • Microbiology
    • Molecular Biology
    • Spectrophotometry
  • Technologies
    • Activated Carbon
    • Electrodeionization (EDI)
    • Filtration
    • Ion Exchange
    • PureSure
    • Reverse Osmosis
    • Ultraviolet
  • Impurities In Water
    • Dissolved Gases
    • Inorganic Compounds
    • Microorganisms & Bacteria
    • Organic Compounds
    • Particulates
  • Knowledge
    • Blog
      • Analytical Chemistry
      • Clinical & Pharma
      • Cool Science
      • Environment and sustainability
      • Life in the lab
      • Purelab product design
      • Science of the future
      • Water Purity
      • Water in the lab
    • Case Studies
      • Abbott Diagnostics chooses ELGA MEDICA systems in South Asia
      • Beam Me Up, Scotty: PURELAB® Option Q Delivers Essential Ultra Pure Water
      • Argenta chooses DKSH New Zealand to deliver Ultrapure water in Animal Pharma
      • Clean Water for a Clean Future
      • LS Scientific & ELGA deliver UltraPure water to the NAFDAC Laboratory
      • Lifebrain Group chooses ELGA as water partner for new modern 24/7 PCR-COVID-19 laboratory in Vienna, Austria.
      • Critital Tests Benefit from PURELAB® Option Reliable Pure Water
      • DASA: The biggest medical diagnostics company in Brazil
      • ELGA helps immuneserology labs maximize uptime
      • Fondazione Telethon Continues to Choose ELGA Labwater as a Trusted Partner
      • Importance of ultrapure Type 1+ water for the development of generic medicines
      • MEDICA® Pro selected for Siemens ADVIA® analyzers at City General Hospital
      • Optimale Wasserqualität für mikrobiologische Forschung und Lehre
      • PURELAB® Option R Guarantees Pure Water for Leading Microfluidics Technology
      • PURELAB® Pulse Delivers Reliable Water Quality and Quantity for a Wide Range of Applications
      • PURELAB® flex: an ideal training system for today's research method
      • Powering Cutting-Edge Gene Research
      • Sichere Reinstwasserversorgung für präzise Produkttests
      • Zentrale Reinstwasser-Aufbereitung für Analyser
      • ELGA LabWater and Beckman Coulter Join Forces
      • Applied New Technologies Department Improves ICP, IC & HPLC Sample Turnaround Times with PURELAB®
      • Unlocking the secrets of the Antarctic with the aid of ultrapure water
      • Advancing Genetic Technologies
      • Cross Infection Control: Pure and Simple
      • Researching effective new ways to prevent cardiovascular disease at the University of Columbia
    • Ultrapure water
    • Guides and White Papers
      • HPLC Water Purity
      • HPLC in Pharma
      • Reducing Clinical Risks
      • Sustainability
  • U.S.A.
  • Deutschland
  • España
  • France
  • Italia
  • Brasil
  • 日本
  • 中国
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum

Let's talk about lab water

  • Categories
    • Analytical Chemistry
    • Clinical & Pharma
    • Cool Science
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Future Science
    • Life in The Lab
    • PURELAB Product Design
    • Science of the Future
    • Water In The Lab
    • Water Purity
  • Authors
    • ELGA Editorial Team_cloned
    • ELGA Editorial Team
    • Natasha Zarach
    • Dr Paul Whitehead
    • Dr Alison Halliday
    • John Walker
Water In The Lab
Analytical Chemistry

Microorganism Contamination: the End of the Road?

17 Jan 2020
- by ELGA Editorial Team

Bacteria design

Small and seemingly insignificant as they may be, microorganisms can be a real bugbear in the lab, especially when sterile conditions are a top priority.

Weaseling their way into our lab water supply and jeopardizing any hope of Nobel prize-winning success. Yes, microorganisms can be the source of a multitude of misfortunes (unless of course you’re a microbiologist, in which case you may welcome them with open, albeit biohazard-protected, arms).

If you’ve found yourself cursing karma and asking the lab gods to look favorably upon your last-ditch attempt to generate the data you so desperately need – we thought we’d help you out! What are these little horrors? Where did they come from? How do you control them? Will their reign of terror ever end? Yes. Yes it will.

Mighty microorganisms

Microorganisms are found everywhere in our beautiful biosphere and include bacteria and a multitude of other taxonomically diverse microscopic beings. While there’s no denying that they are essential in ecosystems and biotechnological applications, bacteria can be a downright nuisance if they get into your water purification system: blocking filters, competing with substrates at enzymatic sites and ruining your experiments.

If that wasn’t enough, bacteria are also more than capable of producing an army of henchmen in the form of nucleases and endotoxins to do their dirty work for them. Nucleases have a nasty habit of nicking holes in target nucleic acids (such as DNA or RNA). Whereas endotoxins, which are lipopolysaccharides found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, ruthlessly attack in vitro tissue cultures.

Sadly, there’s more. It’s been said that dynamite comes in small packages and bacteria are no exception. Left to their own devices, free-floating (planktonic) bacteria can explode in number, or rather amass, creating biofilms on surfaces. These can be difficult to remove and may go on developing for years to come. To add insult to injury, biofilms can release bursts of yet more bacteria, nucleases and endotoxins, as and when it pleases them. Bacteria may never want to leave their increasingly comfortable extracellular polysaccharide matrix surroundings with enhanced protection and nutrient supplies, but if and when they do, it can spell disaster for the purity of your H2O.

Clearly, the microorganism mafia are up to no good, causing lots of trouble in the laminar flow hood (and elsewhere). Preventative measures are necessary if you wish to avoid roving gangs of bacteria shaking down your samples. To help we’ve listed a few tried and tested technologies that you can use to purify your solutions, buffers and sample preparations.

Top Tech for Trumping Microbial Contamination

The microbial mob are a pretty persistent bunch and it can take a series of purification steps to generate water virtually free from them. Reverse osmosis and distillation are the first to take these on, but they need backup:

  • Microfilters (0.2um) and ultra-microfilters (0.05um)
  • Ultraviolet light
  • Recirculation

All Together Now

Why use just one of these approaches, when you can combine them to even greater effect! In so doing you will also be preventing biofilm formation too.

To find out more about how a thorough understanding of water purity can help support your experiments, download our Pure Water Guide – it has everything you need to know about your most widely-used reagent.
 

Pure Water Essence of the Lab Whitepaper download

How well do you know your ultrapure lab water?

Do you know the most effective way to use ultrapure water, your most fundamental reagent? Read our full whitepaper and discover how you can make sure that your pure water supply delivers the performance you need to produce reliable and accurate results.

          Read the Whitepaper

 

 

Highlights

4 Aug 2022
Pesticides in Dutch drinking water
1 Aug 2022
Das bringt die Zukunft für die Pharmaindustrie und ihr Laborwasser
25 Jul 2022
Exploring natural compounds for mastitis control
18 Jul 2022
A new photothermal device for seawater desalination
11 Jul 2022
Paving the way for clean 3D bioprinting
4 Jul 2022
Monitoring the quality of drinking water in South Korea
27 Jun 2022
Is it time to ditch reusable plastic water bottles?
20 Jun 2022
Honeysuckle berries: a promising source of bioactive compounds

Categories

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Clinical & Pharma
  • Cool Science
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Future Science
  • Life in The Lab
  • PURELAB Product Design
  • Science of the Future
  • Water In The Lab
  • Water Purity

Video

  • Enquiry
  • Get a Quote
  • Book a Demo
  • Find an Approved Partner

Enquiry

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Get a Quote

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Book a Demo

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Call us

Can't find what you are looking for?

Support Number
+44 (0)20 3567 7300
United Kingdom Sales
+44 (0)1628 879 704
United States of America Sales
+1 877-315-3542
France Sales
+33 1 40 83 65 00
China Sales
+86 400-616-8882

 

ELGA LabWater US Headquarters

ELGA LabWater North America
5 Earl Ct Suite 100
Woodridge, IL 60517
USA

Tel: 630-343-5251

ELGA LabWater UK Headquarters

Lane End Business Park
Lane End, High Wycombe
HP14 3BY
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 203 567 7300
F: +44 (0) 203 567 7205

Case Studies

  • Abbott Diagnostics
  • DASA Medical Diagnostics
  • NeoDIN Medical Institute
  • North Staffordshire NHS Trust
  • Olsberg Vocational College

Resources

  • Learn About Ultrapure Water
  • Guides and White Papers
  • Purification Technologies
  • Applications
  • Impurities In Water

Blogs

  • Latest Blog
  • Water Purity - Different Types of Pure Water
  • What is Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water (CLSI)?
  • What is Total Organic Carbon (TOC)?
  • Language
    • Deutsch
    • English
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
    • 日本語
    • 中文
  • Other Veolia Sites
    • Veolia
    • Veolia Foundation
    • Veolia Water Technologies

© VWS (UK) Ltd. trading as ELGA LabWater. 2022 - All rights reserved.
ELGA is the global laboratory water brand name of Veolia.

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum
Elga Veolia
TOP

© 2017 ELGA Veolia