Filter tips or standard tips: which does your experiment need?

Every pipette tip moves liquid. The difference between a standard tip and a filter tip is what happens to the air above the liquid. When you aspirate, a small amount of aerosol can travel up into the pipette shaft. In most routine work that is harmless. In sensitive work it can carry traces of one sample into the next.

What the filter does

A filter tip has a hydrophobic barrier inside the tip collar. Air passes through it, but aerosols and liquid are blocked before they reach the pipette. That protects two things: your next sample, and the pipette itself.

When to choose filter tips

• PCR and qPCR setup. Amplification picks up very small amounts of template, so carry-over between samples matters.
• RNA and DNA work. Pair filter tips with a sterile, DNase/RNase-free grade.
• Infectious or hazardous samples. The barrier keeps aerosols out of the pipette shaft.
• Volatile or viscous liquids that are more likely to creep up the tip.

When standard tips are enough

For buffers, reagent preparation, routine dilutions and general chemistry, a standard tip is accurate and economical. Bagged, non-sterile tips suit high-volume routine work; boxed, sterile tips suit work where handling and cleanliness matter more.

A quick way to decide

Ask one question: would a trace of the previous sample change my result? If yes, use a filter tip. If no, a standard tip is the simpler choice.

MODMAT universal pipette tips come in 10 µL, 200 µL and 1000 µL, as bagged, boxed sterile and filter sterile options, and fit single- and multi-channel pipettes from different manufacturers.