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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 29.
Published in final edited form as: Methods Mol Biol. 2011;782:1–12. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-273-1_1

Figure 2.1. The General Setup for Elutriation.

Figure 2.1

(A) Two inlet tubes (a, b) are setup allowing quick switching between media, yeast or water. Media from either reservoir is flowed through the system using a pump. The pressure meter allows determination of whether the system is blocked. The bubble trap smooths pressure pulses created by the pump and prevents air bubbles from entering and blocking the system with the centrifuge running. An in-line spectrophotometer is useful for monitoring cells escaping the centrifuge chamber when cells are recirculated and harvested. The outlet tubing (c) allows the user to recirculate media, remove waste or collect cells. (B) The elutriator chamber, viewed during a run. i) An empty chamber. ii) A partially full chamber during cell loading. iii) An almost full chamber; only a small gap remains between the cell front and the top of the chamber. At this point, no more cells need to be loaded, and the rotor speed can be reduced to allow cells to escape. Alternatively, the pump speed can be reduced, which will cause the cell front to retreat and make room for more cells. iv) A full chamber with cells escaping.