HI,

I think the magnetic racks shouldn't be an issue in this case. Try a small volume and check in case you are not sure.

Santosh

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately we don't have any of the racks, we want to buy it but are unsure which ones to go for.

They SHOULD be - they're just magnets and metal beads, after all.  As a simple test, just get a reasonably strong refrigerator magnet, and see if that attracts your beads.  If so, you almost certainly don't need anything fancy, and could in fact just use a normal plastic rack that fits your tubes, with a few strong magnets taped to the back.

The companies recommend their own products so they get the money, after all.  But it's very, very unlikely that they invented a new form of magnetism that's somehow incompatible with existing magnets and metals.

Thank you. That is a possibility, yes. We just need to be sure before spending the money on such a rack. I just thought I can ask around campus if we can borrow anyone's rack that is not from Invitrogen.

For what it's worth, I use this rack with Dynabeads and it works fine: http://www.ozbiosciences.com/magnetic-devices-for-magnetofection/72-magnetic-separation-rack.html. It doesn't have slots for 0.5 ml tubes so that's not totally helpful for you, but probably any magnetic rack will work. For that matter, I'm pretty sure I have a coworker who just uses a plain old bar magnet.

Tina O'Grady, that is the answer I was hoping to find, thanks very much for sharing!

Yes, any magnetic beads will work with any rack. In fact, good racks are using Neodymium magnets; they are much stronger than common iron magnets. The thicker the magnet, the stronger it is. Also look for N52 grade magnets, they are the strongest. Here are some racks that work really fast, in less than a minute with most suspensions: https://sergilabsupplies.com/collections/magnetic-racks