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Instruments & Consumables

Tissue Homogenisers

Precellys bead-mill homogenisers for reproducible tissue disruption before extraction

Uneven tissue disruption limits everything that follows in your extraction workflow. The Precellys range from Bertin Instruments pairs 3D bead-beating with matched lysing kits and accessories, so your extraction starts from consistently and completely disrupted sample material. Your sample tubes move multidirectionally against ceramic or metal beads at up to 10,000 rpm. This breaks down your tissue, microorganisms, and tough plant material such as seeds, roots, and Arabidopsis, as well as bone, in a few dozen seconds. Sample tubes never touch a shared probe, so there is no cross-contamination risk between your samples.

Bead-beating is the established method for tissue homogenisation. Mortar and pestle, sonication and blade homogenisers all struggle to match its reproducibility. Your samples come out ready for nucleic acid, protein, or metabolite work downstream. This works across PCR, sequencing, Western blot, and liquid chromatography, for your animal, plant, and microbial samples alike.

The range runs from the Minilys personal homogeniser for your single-sample work to the Precellys 24 Touch and Precellys Evolution Touch for higher throughput. The Cryolys Evolution cooling unit adds temperature control through a long run, when heat-sensitive nucleic acids or proteins in your sample need it. The lysing kit should match your sample type, with kits optimised for hard tissue, soft tissue, mixed or fibrous material, or microorganisms.

Match the homogeniser to throughput and sample type.

1) Occasional single samples. The Minilys personal homogeniser suits this scale, with a low bench footprint and three-tube capacity.

2) Routine multi-sample runs. The Precellys 24 Touch suits this scale, for up to 24 tubes per cycle.

3) High-throughput or 96-well work. The Precellys Evolution Touch suits this scale, with the matched 96-well holder pack.

4) Heat-sensitive targets. The Cryolys Evolution cooling unit, or the Evolution plus Cryolys bundle, suits this need. This holds your samples cold and protects RNA and labile proteins during prolonged homogenisation.

5) Bead chemistry. A lysing kit optimised for hard tissue and bone, soft tissue, fibrous or mixed samples, tough plant material, or bacteria and yeast suits your sample type.

6) Downstream recovery. The homogeniser pairs with Precellys lysing kits and sample preparation kits matched to nucleic acid, protein or metabolite extraction.

All homogenisers, lysing kits and accessories here are supplied by Bertin Instruments.

Applications

Genomic DNA extraction from tissue

Bead-mill homogenisation releases genomic DNA from your tissue in one 10 to 60 second cycle, ready for nucleic acid purification.

Transcriptomics and RNA extraction

Short high-speed cycles with optional Cryolys cooling limit heat build-up, protecting your RNA integrity before RT-qPCR or sequencing library prep.

Proteomics sample preparation

Mechanical lysis releases native proteins from your tissue and cells without a shared probe, giving lysates suited to Western blot or protein quantification.

Metabolomics and small-molecule extraction

Low-temperature cycles with matched bead chemistries quench enzyme activity and preserve your metabolites for metabolism assays or chromatography.

Tough plant material disruption

High-speed bead-beating breaks down your fibrous plant material, including leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and recalcitrant samples like Arabidopsis, in seconds.

Microbial cell lysis

Small-diameter glass or ceramic beads break tough bacterial and yeast cell walls, releasing nucleic acids or proteins for your genomics or proteomics work.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose the right bead chemistry for my sample?

CK28 kits use 2.8 mm ceramic beads for hard tissue, such as heart, lung, and spleen, and for tough plant material such as Arabidopsis and seeds. They are not the right choice for bone or cartilage. For very hard, dry material like bone, teeth, or dried roots, Bertin recommends CK68 ceramic beads or metal tubes instead.

CK14 kits use 1.4 mm ceramic beads for soft tissue, such as liver, kidney, and plant leaves. Mixed bead kits (CKMix) handle fibrous samples such as muscle, tendon, and plant stems.

VK01 kits use 0.1 mm glass beads for lysing micro-organisms such as bacteria and yeast, where the cell wall determines the force needed. Bead diameter matters too: smaller beads deliver more impacts per cycle, which works better on tough cell walls.

 Can bead-mill homogenisation preserve RNA integrity?

Yes, with the right precautions. Use RNase-free tubes and reagents. Keep samples on dry ice before loading, and run short high-speed cycles of 15 to 30 seconds with cooling pauses between them. The Cryolys Evolution cooling unit uses dry ice based cooling around the sample zone. It keeps samples between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius before and during homogenisation. This prevents heat build-up, which is the main cause of RNA degradation during prolonged homogenisation.

 What throughput formats are available?

Single-sample personal homogenisers process one to three tubes and suit occasional or precious samples. Mid-range instruments take up to 24 tubes in a single cycle. High-throughput models accept 96-well plates, aligning with downstream extraction kits that use the same plate format. Choosing a format that matches your extraction kit avoids a manual transfer step.
Is bead-mill homogenisation suitable for all sample types?

Bead-mill homogenisation works for most solid biological samples, from animal tissue and microorganisms to tough plant material such as leaves, stems, roots, and seeds. It is not ideal for very small cell numbers, fragile cells in suspension, or samples where shear-sensitive protein complexes must be preserved. For those cases, gentler methods such as nitrogen cavitation, freeze-thaw cycling or detergent lysis may be preferred.

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