Using untreated beads which contain impurities can affect homogenization and biological processes. Acid washing silica and zirconia grinding beads help remove fine particles and contaminant for cleaner samples. Select silica beads for general grinding applications; zirconia beads have greater density and offer higher impact power. General-purpose grinding beads are suitable for most basic cell lysis applications. Choose RNase/DNase-free treated molecular biology-grade grinding beads to inactivate contaminating enzymes. Low-binding grinding beads are coated to reduce nonspecific binding of nucleic acids and proteins.