The invention was originally described in Microscopy Research and Technique 26:177-179 (1993). The device consists of a siphon system and 5 or 10 grid disks, for large numbers of grids with ultra-thin sections. This method improves the ease of assembling grids onto the grid disk and also requires much less staining solution, perhaps as small a volume as 2 ml. The SPI Stain 'n Wash system takes only 5 minutes for one single stain washing, at a maximum of 100 grids, and also avoids stain contamination. The grid disk can also be used for immunocytochemistry work and for critical point drying of grids with biological specimens.
