Equipment Operation & Maintenance
Guides
Thermal Cycler Validation: IQ/OQ/PQ, Regulatory Requirements, and Vendor Evaluation
What thermal cycler validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) covers, how it differs from calibration, when re-validation is triggered, and what to ask vendors about installation and performance qualification support.
Eyewash Station Inspection: Program, Checklist, and Buying Guide
How to run a defensible eyewash station inspection program (weekly and annual testing, documentation, maintenance) and what to evaluate before purchasing or replacing a unit.
Thermal Cycler Calibration: Requirements, Intervals, and Vendor Selection
What thermal cycler calibration actually verifies, which accreditation frameworks require it, how often to do it, and how to evaluate an in-house verification program versus an accredited third-party calibration provider.
Equipment Decommissioning: A Step-by-Step Checklist for Labs
A step-by-step process for decommissioning lab equipment: decontamination, data and records handling, asset deregistration, and choosing the right disposal route — plus a practical checklist and decommissioning-form outline.
Fume Hood Installation Requirements: Placement, Ductwork, and Ducted vs. Ductless
What determines whether a fume hood can actually deliver its certified containment: placement away from doors and drafts, ducted vs. ductless design, ductwork/exhaust/make-up air requirements, and pre-use commissioning.
Laboratory Environmental Monitoring: Systems, Standards, and Setup
What laboratory environmental monitoring systems track, why standards like ISO 17025 and CLIA require it, and how to choose a monitoring solution.
Cleanroom Checklist: Facility Compliance & Qualification
A practical cleanroom checklist covering ISO 14644 particle-count classification, HEPA filter integrity, airflow/pressure cascade, viable monitoring, gowning qualification, and requalification intervals.
HEPA Filter Certification for Cleanrooms and Controlled Environments
What HEPA filter certification actually tests (integrity/leak scan, airflow, installation seal), the standards involved (IEST recommended practices, ISO 14644-3, NSF/ANSI 49, USP /), how it differs from cleanroom classification, and how often it needs to be repeated.
Laminar Flow Hood Certification: IEST-RP-CC002 Testing Explained
What laminar flow hood (clean bench) certification actually tests, why it follows IEST-RP-CC002 rather than NSF/ANSI 49, and how often to recertify.
Which Plastics Are Autoclavable? A Material Selection Guide
A reference guide to which lab plastics survive steam autoclave cycles (PP, PSU, PPSU, PES, PTFE, PEEK, silicone) and which don’t (PS, PVC, acrylic, LDPE), with the material-science reasons why.
Sustainable Lab Practices: A Practical Implementation Guide
A practical, category-by-category guide to sustainable lab practices: energy, water, materials and waste, chemicals, procurement, computing, and travel, with links to the operational detail behind each.
Freezer Challenge: The My Green Lab / I2SL Cold-Storage Competition
The Freezer Challenge is My Green Lab and I2SL’s free annual competition rewarding labs for optimizing cold-storage energy use, organization, and safety.
Biomedical Equipment Maintenance: Building a Compliant Hospital Program
A practical guide to biomedical equipment maintenance programs in hospitals and clinics: risk-based inventories, preventive maintenance scheduling, calibration, Alternative Equipment Maintenance (AEM) programs, and Joint Commission / CMS compliance.
Sterilization Validation: IQ/OQ/PQ Across Steam, EtO, and Radiation Methods
Sterilization validation proves, through IQ/OQ/PQ, that a sterilization process reliably achieves sterility before it goes into routine use. This guide covers the ISO framework across steam, EtO, and radiation methods.
Out-of-Tolerance Calibration: What to Do When a Check Fails
What “out of tolerance” means, and the required response: quarantine the instrument, assess the impact on prior results, investigate root cause, document, and return it to service.
Temperature Excursion: What It Means and How to Respond
A temperature excursion is a documented departure of monitored product or storage conditions outside a validated range. This guide covers detection, disposition decisions, MKT, SOP structure, and reporting.
Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA): Running a Scan and Interpreting Mass-Loss Steps
A practical guide to running a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) scan and interpreting the resulting curve: crucible and purge-gas selection, heating-rate trade-offs, how to read the TGA/DTG curve, a worked calculation converting mass-loss steps into moisture, decomposition, and ash percentages, and a troubleshooting table for common artifacts.
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Flame vs Graphite Furnace, Lamp Selection and Detection Limits
How to choose between flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy, select the right lamp, read element-by-element wavelengths and detection-limit ranges, and run the instrument start to finish.
Atomic Force Microscopy: Contact, Tapping and Non-Contact Modes Compared
A direct comparison of AFM contact, tapping and non-contact imaging modes — tip force, sample damage risk, suitable specimens and resolution — plus a numbered engage-and-image procedure and troubleshooting table.
Dynamic Light Scattering: Z-Average, PDI and How to Read a DLS Report
What Z-average and PDI actually mean, a PDI band table for reading sample quality, and a worked walkthrough of why intensity, volume and number distributions on the same DLS report can disagree.
Flow Cytometry: How It Works, and How to Read Dot Plots and Histograms
A walkthrough of how flow cytometry works (fluidics, optics, detectors) and how to read the output: FSC/SSC, fluorophore/laser tables, compensation, FMO vs. isotype controls, and a step-by-step gating sequence.
HPLC: Columns, Mobile Phases, and a Peak-Problem Troubleshooting Table
A practical HPLC reference covering the instrument flow path, normal- vs. reversed-phase, column chemistry (C18/C8/phenyl/HILIC), mobile-phase preparation, detector selection, and a peak-problem troubleshooting table for tailing, ghosting, pressure loss, and retention-time drift.
Gas Chromatography: Columns, Carrier Gases and Detectors Explained
How to choose a GC column, carrier gas, and detector, with a temperature-programming example and a troubleshooting reference table.
Biosafety Cabinet Cleaning and Decontamination Procedures
How to clean a biosafety cabinet between uses versus when it needs full gas decontamination — surface disinfection technique, disinfectant selection, and the formaldehyde/vaporized hydrogen peroxide fumigation process under NSF/ANSI 49 Annex G.
Autoclave Validation: Using Biological and Chemical Indicators
How to validate that an autoclave cycle actually achieved sterility using physical monitoring, chemical indicators (ISO 11140-1 Classes 1-6), the Bowie-Dick test, and biological indicators (Geobacillus stearothermophilus spore testing) — including recommended testing frequency and how to respond to a failed test.
Milli-Q Water Purification System Maintenance
How Milli-Q lab water purification systems work, what resistivity and TOC readings mean, and a practical maintenance schedule covering cartridge replacement, UV lamp service, sanitization, and troubleshooting.
Microplate Reader Calibration and Maintenance Guide
How to verify a microplate reader’s photometric accuracy, wavelength accuracy, linearity, well-to-well precision, and (for multimode readers) fluorescence and luminescence detection, using NIST-traceable reference plates.
How to Operate a Lab Autoclave: Cycle Types Explained (Gravity, Pre-Vacuum, Liquid)
How gravity displacement, pre-vacuum, and liquid autoclave cycles each remove air and sterilize differently, and how to choose the right cycle for glassware, wrapped instruments, and liquids.
How to Properly Use a Biosafety Cabinet: Airflow, Sash Height, and Technique
Operator technique for using a biosafety cabinet correctly between certifications: certified sash height, front-grille clearance, hand movement, loading order, and what never to bring inside.
Autoclave Troubleshooting: Common Problems and Fixes
A practical, symptom-first guide to diagnosing and fixing the most common autoclave problems: failure to reach pressure or temperature, wet loads, door and gasket issues, aborted cycles and error codes, and failed biological or chemical indicators.
CO2 Incubator Calibration and Temperature Uniformity Mapping
How to calibrate a CO2 incubator and verify it: CO2 sensor types (TC vs IR), calibration-gas and chemical reference methods, NIST-traceable temperature checks, and how to run a temperature uniformity mapping study.
Fume Hood Sash Height and Safe Operating Practices
How sash height, CAV vs. VAV airflow, and everyday operating habits keep a chemical fume hood’s real-world containment consistent with what it was certified at.
Biosafety Cabinet Certification: What NSF/ANSI 49 Testing Involves
What NSF/ANSI 49 field certification actually tests on a biosafety cabinet, how often it’s required, who’s qualified to perform it, and how to read a pass/fail report.
Analytical Balance Calibration and Proper Weighing Technique
A practical guide to analytical balance calibration: the repeatability, eccentricity, and linearity tests behind a real calibration, ASTM E617/OIML R111 test-weight traceability, USP <41>/<1251> requirements, calibration frequency, and proper weighing technique.
Spectrophotometer Calibration: Wavelength and Photometric Accuracy Checks
How to verify a UV-Vis spectrophotometer’s wavelength and photometric accuracy using NIST-traceable reference materials and ASTM E275, including a step-by-step procedure, calibration frequency, and what to document.
RCF vs. RPM: How to Convert and Why It Matters for Centrifugation
RCF and RPM measure different things — RPM is rotor speed, RCF is the actual force on your sample. Learn the conversion formula, rotor radius, and worked examples.
Centrifuge Rotor Balancing: Safety Best Practices
How to balance a centrifuge correctly, what to check before every run, and how to inspect and retire rotors before fatigue or corrosion causes a failure.
Class I vs. II vs. III Biosafety Cabinets: Operational Differences for Everyday Lab Use
Class I, II, and III biosafety cabinets differ in how much they protect the worker, the sample, and the room. This guide breaks down each class, the Class II subtypes (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1), which class matches which biosafety level, and the everyday habits that keep a cabinet’s containment intact.
pH Meter Calibration: Buffer Selection and Best Practices
How to calibrate a pH meter correctly: choosing and bracketing buffer solutions, two- vs three-point calibration, reading slope/offset diagnostics, temperature compensation, and electrode storage practices that keep calibration accurate.
