If you're a scientist working on a tight budget ― which is most of us these days ― you face a familiar dilemma: how to stretch your funds as far as they can go without compromising the quality of your work.

It's one thing for me to buy a cheaper brand of toothpaste for my bathroom, but another to put months or years of work and hard-won experimental outcomes on the line. When I find a lab supply that works, I don't take the decision to switch products lightly ― even if the budget side of my brain is crying out for it.

Here's the good news for penny-pinching scientists everywhere: Quartzy has a life science team dedicated to finding safe, reliable alternatives that save money. (You can meet the team right here.) These former scientists are intimately familiar with the erratic formatting of supplier websites, can spot the key terminology buried deep in item descriptions, and in most cases have actually tested these alternative supplies themselves.

As you use Quartzy, you'll see the money-saving equivalent matches they make presented as quotes when you use the Requests feature. In order to help make all your purchasing decisions easier, I asked them to share their guideline for finding alternatives and making matches. Here’s what they gave me:

CHEMICALS: For chemicals, Quartzy’s science team is matching CAS #, purity, volume, grade, and application while also comparing pricing to find the best alternative for your lab. If there are different isomers or combinations of isomers then this will be checked as well.

Here’s an example of a chemical match:

ANTIBODIES: For antibodies, Quartzy’s science team is checking animal origin, reactive species, clonality, immunogen, isotype, conjugation, and clone if applicable. 

Here’s an example of an antibody match:

KITS: For kits, Quartzy’s science team makes sure that your process can continue as it would. We make sure things like targets, yield, downstream applications, and number of preps are the same or a better deal. 

Here’s an example of a matching kit:

CONSUMABLES: For consumables like paper towels, gloves, glassware, centrifuge tubes, pipettes, tips, and safety glasses, Quartzy’s science team is making sure the equivalents can do the job, are the right size, and are what you’d expect. 

Here’s an example of how we would match gloves:

Further examples

• Glassware: We verify the material, volume, glass grade, and if applicable, that their fittings match.
• Centrifuge tubes: We match on material, volume, racked/bulk, sterility, RNase/DNase/Pyrogen free, centrifugation max speed (RCF), and cap style.
• PCR tubes: We check all of the things checked for normal centrifuge tubes plus verify if the caps are domed, flat, optically clear (for qPCR), attached, and if they’re in strips.
• Petri dishes: We check sterility, volume, and stackable/slippable.

If you're in the US and would like help finding alternative lab supplies, try Quartzy's Effortless Quote feature. Our product specialists will send you quotes for equivalent items automatically.

We hope this guide gives you confidence as you work your way through those daily purchasing decisions!

Quartzy is the world’s No. 1 lab management platform. We help scientists easily organize orders, manage inventory, and save money. We’re free and always will be. Visit Quartzy.com or reach out at info@quartzy.com.

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