Device For The Carrying Out Of Chemical or Biological Reactions

• US 20100120099A1
• Filed: 01/18/2010
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Life Technologies Corporation (Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Life Technologies Corporation (Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated)
• Inventors: Heimberg, Wolfgang, Herrmann, Thomas, Schurf, Markus, Wagner, Tilmann, Knulle, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 8,389,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/91.200
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/147 Employing temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0829 Multi-well plates; Microtitration plates
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/1822 using Peltier elements
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 7/52 with provision for submitting samples to a predetermined sequence of different temperatures, e.g. for treating nucleic acid samples amplification or hybridisation processes per se C12Q1/68; controlling sequential reactions for synthesis B01J19/0046
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 7/54 using spatial temperature gradients

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for the carrying out of chemical or biological reactions with a reaction vessel receiving element for receiving a microtiter plate with several reaction vessels, wherein the reaction vessel receiving element has several recesses arranged in a regular pattern to receive the respective reaction vessels, a heating device for heating the reaction vessel receiving element, and a cooling device for cooling the reaction vessel receiving element.

The invention is characterised by the fact that the reaction vessel receiving element is divided into several segments. The individual segments are thermally decoupled from one another, and each segment is assigned a heating device which may be actuated independently of the others.

By means of the segmentation of the reaction vessel receiving element, it is possible for zones to be set and held at different temperatures. Since the reaction vessel receiving element is suitable for receiving standard microtiter plates, the device according to the invention may be integrated in existing process sequences.

Claims

1. A method for thermal cycling of biological or chemical samples:

disposing a plurality of sample volumes in conjunction with a block;

modulating a temperature of the block via a thermoelectric device; and

equalizing the temperature of the block to a substantially uniform temperature via a thermal plate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising heating the block via a heating element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein equalizing the temperature via the thermal plate comprises equalizing the temperature via a thermal plate comprising copper.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising cooling the block via a cooling element in thermal communication with the thermoelectric device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising circulating a cooling medium through the thermal plate.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the block comprises a plurality of segments and the thermoelectric device comprises a plurality of thermoelectric elements, and wherein modulating the temperature of the block comprises respectively modulating the temperature of each segment via each thermoelectric element.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the thermal plate comprises a plurality of plates, and wherein equalizing the temperature comprises respectively equalizing the temperature of each segment via each plate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein disposing a plurality of sample volumes in conjunction with the block comprises disposing a microtiter plate in conjunction with the block.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising heating the block via a heated cover.