They come in every GoldBio order. They show up in masses at every vendor show. And they build up into a great green pile in your lab, usually near the water baths. Green, GoldBio floating tube racks – they’re everywhere!

GoldBio Floating Tube racks - waterbath tube racks

Despite their abundance, researchers have repurposed them into other useful tools. Aside from floating microcentrifuge tubes, having so many floating tube racks means there is little fear in cutting them up and refitting them to float conical tubes.

And outside of the lab, people become even more creative. From coasters to pen holders to pin cushions, these floating tube racks have made a cameo in all sorts of unusual places.

It is for that reason, we launched a contest three years ago, discovering other creative ways researchers have used the GoldBio floating tube racks. And we’re doing it again.

Meet Ph.D. candidate Eric Samuels from the lab of Dr. Tom Poulos at the University of California, Irvine, who found a unique way to use the surplus of floating tube racks. For his son’s

first birthday, Samuels built a busy board equipped with buttons, horns, latches, switches, clickers, spinners and GoldBio’s floating tube racks.

“I know finger dexterity is important in early development and the holes [in the tube rack] are perfect for little fingers. Additionally, the foam helps

protect him from the corners of the board, which is why I put them there specifically,” Samuels said.

His gift for creativity and problem solving has been extremely important in the lab. Currently, Samuels’s research focuses on cytochrome P450 3A4, an enzyme in our livers that is responsible for metabolizing more than half the drugs on the market. Samuels is studying the enzyme’s mechanism of inhibition as well as designing and developing CYP34A inhibitors. By better controlling this enzyme, the same dose of a single drug would be able to pack a greater punch.

If you’ve got a knack for creativity or are just curious about the contest, visit our Facebook page. You can also find an album on our Facebook page showing archived images of previous entries. And you can enter your own creations here. Be silly, be crafty, be clever – spin however you like, share your project, get votes and win.

The first place winner of this year’s contest will receive a gift card, plaque and GoldBio Goodies.



Karen Martin
GoldBio Marketing Coordinator


"To understand the universe is to understand math." My 8th grade
math teacher's quote meant nothing to me at the time. Then came
college, and the revelation that the adults in my past were right all
along. But since math feels less tangible, I fell for biology and have
found pure happiness behind my desk at GoldBio, learning, writing
and loving everything science.



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