Systems and methods for rapidly identifying useful chemicals in liquid samples
First Claim
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1. A device for identifying useful chemicals, comprising:
- a) a storage and retrieval module comprising storage locations for storing a plurality of chemicals in solution in addressable chemical wells, a chemical well retriever, and having programmable selection and retrieval of said addressable chemical wells,b) a sample distribution module comprising a liquid handler to aspirate or dispense solutions from selected said addressable chemical wells, said sample distribution module having programmable selection of, and aspiration from, said selected addressable chemical wells and programmable dispensation into selected addressable sample wells,c) at least one multi-lane sample transporter to transport said selected addressable chemical wells to said sample distribution module and optionally having programmable control of transport of said selected addressable chemical wells, wherein at least one lane of said multi-lane sample transporter functions to provide bidirectional transport of said selected addressable chemical wells to or from said storaRe and retrieval module,d) a reaction module comprising either a reagent dispenser to dispense reagents into said selected addressable sample wells or a fluorescent detector to detect chemical reactions in said selected addressable sample wells, ande) a data processing and integration module;
wherein said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, and said reaction module are integrated and programmably controlled by said data processing and integration module; and
said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, said multi-lane sample transporter, said reaction module and said data processing and integration module are operably linked to facilitate rapid processing of said addressable sample wells.
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Abstract
The present invention provides for systems and methods that utilize automated and integratable workstations for identifying chemicals having useful activity. The present invention is also directed to chemical entities and information (e.g., chemical or biological activities of chemicals) generated or discovered by operation of workstations of the present invention. The present invention includes automated workstations that are programmably controlled to minimize processing times at each workstation and that can be integrated to minimize the processing time of the liquid samples from the start to finish of the process.
411 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A device for identifying useful chemicals, comprising:
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a) a storage and retrieval module comprising storage locations for storing a plurality of chemicals in solution in addressable chemical wells, a chemical well retriever, and having programmable selection and retrieval of said addressable chemical wells, b) a sample distribution module comprising a liquid handler to aspirate or dispense solutions from selected said addressable chemical wells, said sample distribution module having programmable selection of, and aspiration from, said selected addressable chemical wells and programmable dispensation into selected addressable sample wells, c) at least one multi-lane sample transporter to transport said selected addressable chemical wells to said sample distribution module and optionally having programmable control of transport of said selected addressable chemical wells, wherein at least one lane of said multi-lane sample transporter functions to provide bidirectional transport of said selected addressable chemical wells to or from said storaRe and retrieval module, d) a reaction module comprising either a reagent dispenser to dispense reagents into said selected addressable sample wells or a fluorescent detector to detect chemical reactions in said selected addressable sample wells, and e) a data processing and integration module;
wherein said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, and said reaction module are integrated and programmably controlled by said data processing and integration module; and
said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, said multi-lane sample transporter, said reaction module and said data processing and integration module are operably linked to facilitate rapid processing of said addressable sample wells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A device for rapidly identifying or processing liquid chemical samples, comprising:
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a storage and retrieval module comprising storage locations for storing a plurality of reagents in solution in addressable chemical wells, and having programmable selection and retrieval of said addressable chemical wells and having a storage capacity for said addressable chemical wells, a sample distribution module comprising a liquid handler to aspirate or dispense solutions from selected said addressable chemical wells, said sample distribution module havin, programmable selection said selected addressable chemical wells, at least one multi-lane sample transporter to transport of said selected addressable chemical wells to said sample distribution module and optionally having programmable control of transport of said selected addressable chemical wells, wherein said multi-lane sample transporter comprises at least four tracks and at least two tracks of said four tracks transport in one direction, a reaction module comprising either a reagent dispenser to dispense reagents into said selected addressable sample wells for reaction or a detector to detect chemical reactions in said selected addressable sample wells, and a data processing and integration module;
wherein said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, and said reaction module are integrated and programmably controlled by said data processing and integration module; and
said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, said multi-lane sample transporter, said reaction module and said data processing and integration module are operably linked to facilitate rapid processing of said addressable sample wells;further wherein said device can process at least 25,000 addressable sample wells in 24 hours. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A device for rapidly screening samples containing a molecular target, comprising:
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a) a storage and retrieval module comprising a plurality of putative modulator solutions, said plurality disposed of putative modulator solutions in addressable storage modulator plates, and having programmable selection and retrieval of said addressable modulator plates, wherein said storage and retrieval module has storage locations for said addressable modulator plates, b) a sample distribution module comprising a liquid handler to aspirate or dispense solutions from selected said addressable modulator plates, said sample distribution module having programmable selection of said selected addressable modulator plates, c) at least one multi-lane transporter for transporting modulators and to parallel transport and facilitate parallel processing of modulator plates said selected addressable modulator plates to said sample distribution module and optionally having programmable control of transport of said selected addressable modulator plates, wherein at least one lane of said multi-lane sample transporter functions to provide bidirectional transport said selected addressable chemical wells to or from said storage and retrieval module, d) a reagent dispenser to dispense reagents into said addressable sample wells for reaction, e) a detector to detect activity of a modulator with respect to molecular targets in said addressable sample wells, and a data processing and integration module;
wherein said storage and retrieval module, said sample distribution module, and said reagent dispenser are integrated and programmably controlled by said data processing and integration module; and
said storage and retrieval module, said sample distrbution module, and said multi-lane transporter are optionally not mechanically linked to said reagent dispenser and said detector by said multi-lane transporter; and
said reagent dispenser, said detector and said data processing and integration module are operably linked to facilitate screening of molecular targets in said addressable sample wells, wherein said detector and said data processing and integration module can process said addressable sample wells at rate of at least 50,000 per day. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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Specification