RNase and DNase contamination is a major concern for molecular biology laboratories.

Contamination can lead to loss of time, money, and data. Ribonuclease (RNase) is an enzyme that degrades RNA. It can be found in the oils from hands, face, arms, hair, saliva, tears and bacteria from a non-sterile environment.

It is exceptionally stable and accidentally touching a pipettor tip is all that it takes. Once contaminated, RNase cannot be removed, either by autoclaving or heat. Even after an extreme temperature increase,

RNase renatures.

In fact, it can be very difficult to remove RNase completely in a laboratory. Decontamination liquids are available, such as DEPC (Diethylpyrocarbonate), which is carcinogenic and should be handled with care.

However, as the pipettor tips cannot be cleaned by any decontamination solution, one must make sure to use certified RNase free tips when working with RNA, such as the ExpellPlus tips from Capp. In addition, our Filter tips feature 99.9% bacterial filtration efficiency and ultra-smooth surface inside the tips to minimize sample binding and retention.

https://capp.dk/blog/384-well-qpcr-manual-pipetting/