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MANTIS PFE Chip Care Guide

Following extended periods of downtime, the chip diaphragm may require mild exercise prior to use. This procedure should be followed when chips have been idle for a period of 4 weeks or greater, or when a PFE chip does not dispense properly following a shorter storage period.

There are two tutorials included in this PFE chip care guide:

Exercising PFE Chips Before Use
Storage of PFE Chips

Exercising PFE Chips Before Use

Required Supplies:

MANTIS PFE chip(s)
Distilled water or High Q water.
A reservoir to hold distilled water (Nalgene bottle, etc)

Prerequisites:

Make sure MANTIS is attached to a laptop/computer/system.
Turn on the MANTIS instrument and launch the MANTIS software.
PFE chips should be installed on your MANTIS.

To exercise the PFE Chips before use:

Fill the reservoir with distilled water and place the input tubing for the PFE chips into the reservoir.
Select the Input button in the Input Control Panel, and set the Prime Volume option to 214.0 µL for High Volume PFE (HVP) chips. Click OK.
For Low Volume PFE (LVPFE) chips, use a prime volume of 120.9 µL.

Set the Prime Volume Option to 214.0 µL for HVP Chip

Set the Prime Volume Option to 120.9 µL for LVPFE Chip
Then, prime the chips to exercise the chips’ diaphragms by clicking the prime sequence option button in the Input Control Panel.

Prime Sequence Option Buttons
Recover excess distilled water after the priming. This will omit unwanted droplets sitting in tubings.
Wash the chips by following the Cleaning the Chips guide. To ensure a thorough wash, set the wash to 3-steps and use a volume to 200 µL or more for each wash step.
Repeat step 4 and proceed to step 7.
Your PFE chips are now ready to use. You may repeat steps 1 to 6 as needed.

Storage of PFE Chips

Required Supplies:

35% Glycerol (sterilized)
A reservoir for Glycerol

To prepare the PFE chips for storage:

Place 35% glycerol in the reservoir and add the input lines for PFE chips into the glycerol solution.
Select the chip with assigned reagent name (Glycerol), and click the Manual Prime buttonto pump glycerol through the chips until the glycerol drops from the nozzle tip.

Run the Manual Prime

The Glycerol at the Nozzle Tip
Fill the diaphragm with glycerol by cycling the manual valve control to open the large and small diaphragms (green) to leave glycerol inside the chip(s). For more information, see Valve Control Tab.

Valve Control Tab in the Device Control Panel
Use a lint-free cloth to dab up any glycerol drops hanging from the PFE chip nozzles.
The chips are now ready for storage.

MANTIS PFE Chip Care Guide

Exercising PFE Chips Before Use

Required Supplies:

Prerequisites:

To exercise the PFE Chips before use:

Storage of PFE Chips

Required Supplies:

To prepare the PFE chips for storage:

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