Does anyone have a lid that they like for 96-well plates that is DIC compatible. I have a user that wants to use our robotic plate loading system to monitor organoid growth over a period of several days. It would be ideal to use DIC to section through his sample, but I’m having trouble finding a tight-fitting 96-well lid that is DIC compatible. Usually, we’re looking at fixed time point samples and so we just use the Oko glass lid, but we need to be able to culture for many days. So, maintaining sterility and media levels is critical.
I don’t know of any. But maybe you could “seal” a piece of glass to the top of the dish with silicone grease?
Hmmm. Is this in a humidified incubation chamber? If so, you may not need a lid on the plate at all. Buying a nice piece of glass as Jen suggests, and sealing around it (if the size matches, sealing with parafilm might work) is a good idea, I’ve known people who place big round coverslips on top of 35mm dishes for this purpose, they didn’t seal at all as it was in a humidified chamber. I’ve never tried it, but I bet you could take a multiwell glass bottom plate where the bottom is one nice piece of glass, soak it in the ‘glass bottom fluid’ (coverslip removal solution, MatTek sells it, other may also), and remove the entire bottom, this would be the exact dimension you need to cover the wells on top. Otherwise, I think some of the companies may cell coverslip glass in the dimension you need, you’ll have to loo it up. (a super quick look shows Ted Pella sells, other do too). Good luck!
My major problem is that I need to maintain sterility over the course of a week or more. which rules out going without the top. Using a plate bottom is a good suggestion, but since glass bottoms on the dishes are rectangular but the tops tend to be slightly irregular (orientation dents on the left or right), we can’t use bottoms. I also think the vaseline/vacuum grease is a last option due to the fact that my users sometimes need to feed/dose their cells multiple times over the course of the time in the incubator.
The glass from the bottom is a different size, but it only needs to cover the wells, not fit like a lid, I’ve done similar with 35mm dishes, pause the scope, open chamber, use ethanol covered forceps, lift slip, add drug, Replace flip, etc, it worked well.
Mineral oil as a barrier might work (I have autoclaved the oil) not sure how DIC is impacted, but to do an addition you have to go through the oil and add, which is more challenging on the scope. Good luck.
Polarization and anisotropic plastic don’t go well together. Except, ironically, in the film polarizer itself.
Sometimes, you just need to make a thing.
Before MatTek dishes were a thing, we use to make coverslip dishes by cutting holes in a pile of 35mm dishes and gluing coverslips to the bottom. You could do the same to a 96-well plate lid. Cut out all but a small rim from the top but leave the sides. Get some thin plate glass, cut, and cement it on. Wash, UV sterilize, reuse. Get a fabrication assembly line going in lab.
Bonus: cover the plastic tops while cutting with a layer of clear packing tape temporarily to prevent cracking. Remove afterward.
For the record, Ibidi just let me know that Cellvis sells multiwell plate lids that are DIC compatible https://www.cellvis.com/plate-lids/products_by_category.php?cat_id=312 . I don’t know if they are only compatible with Cellvis plates or if they would also work with plates from other manufacturers.
Hi Eric -
I was just checking out the latest from MatTek (this is NOT an advert for them, I am not affiliated with MatTek in any way), and I see they have manufactured what you need. https://www.mattek.com/store/p24gtop-1-5-f-case/
Good luck.