Sample handling system with dosing device and thermal cycler

A sample handling system for the handling of chemical or biological samples, the system comprising:

• a dosing device:
• with a receiving plate, wherein the receiving plate is configured in an essentially horizontal position in a plane defined by a first and a second axis;
• at least one working arm that is movable in the direction of the first axis relative to the receiving plate, and wherein the working arm extends in the direction of the second axis above the receiving plate;
• at least one pipetting mechanism that is movable in the direction of the second axis is mounted on the working arm, the at least one pipetting mechanism comprising at least one pipetting channel that is movable in the direction of a third axis orthogonal to the direction of the first and second axes and has a pipette tip mounted or mountable thereon, and the at least one pipetting mechanism is configured so as to dispense or aspirate liquid into or out of one or more sample vessels,
• a sample vessel carrier containing the one or more sample vessels;
• a sealing element configured to seal the sample vessels and wherein the sealing element is removable to allow a pipetting step to be carried out in the sample vessels;
• at least one thermal cycler that is provided on the receiving plate;
• a gripper mounted on the working arm that is movable in the direction of the first, second and third axes is mounted on the working arm and configured to remove the sealing element from the at least one thermal cycler and transport the sample carrier within the system;
• and
• a controller configured to control the function of the dosing device and thermal cycler such that the pipetting mechanism is movable in a position above the sample vessels in the thermal cycler in a setting that further allows the pipetting step to be carried out into the sample vessels in the thermal cycler by the pipetting mechanism in the position above the sample vessels in the thermal cycler during a PCR process in that the gripper is movable in a position above the sample vessels in the thermal cycler to remove and/or replace the sealing element and transport the sample carrier within the system.