I have a suspension of 40 um beads (2 mL at 400 beads/uL) and I noticed that there are a lot of debris in it. I need to remove them as much as possible to obtain a suspension with no or few debris. Should I use a 40 um strainer?
Please help me!
Thanks,
Best,
Tommaso
Sieving might be ok for dry matter, difficult for the suspension. And I'd expect problems when using strainers in the range of about 30 .. 45 μm, though it is not completely clear whether you want to retain the beads or let them pass.
You do not give away other parameters than the diameter: neither the characteristics of the debris nor of the beads. Might some chemical treatment (attempting to dissolve the debris) or some separation by different densities of debris resp. beads work?
Wish you success
Thanks for your answer and sorry for the vagueness of my question: I have a suspension of barcoded beads, used in the technique of Macosko et al. (2015), Drop-seq.
By observing the beads at microscope I see that some of them are not intact and there are small fragments, caused by their breakage. These fragments, probably, are causing the beads to crowd and, finally, clog the microfluidic device I am using. I wish to remove these fragments to obtain a clearer solution of beads and to avoid clogging events.
My concern was not to get the sieve clogged.
Regarding your problem, a 30 μm sieve might work. Though some of the damaged beads may be retained, the fragments should filter out if not retained ba adhesion. Depending on the solvent and acceptability, the application of surfactants may help to reduce clogging.
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