System and method for the automated extraction of nucleic acids

A system for the automated extraction of nucleic acids from nucleic acids containing samples, comprising:

• at least one set of three plates, each of which having plural cavities, and includes a process plate for processing said nucleic acids, a reagent plate for providing reagents for mixing with said samples, and an output plate for outputting said extracted nucleic acids, wherein
• said samples are contained in cavities of said process plate,
• said reagents are provided in cavities of said reagent plate using a reagent pipetting device comprising a plurality of reagent pipettes provided with re-usable pipette tips repeatedly used for providing said reagents,
• said reagents are transferred to said samples accommodated in the process plate using a sample pipetting device comprising a plurality of sample pipettes provided with disposable pipette tips for pipetting of said reagents to obtain sample-reagent mixtures,
• said sample-reagent mixtures accommodated in the process plate are incubated by an incubating device to release the nucleic acids,
• said released nucleic acids accommodated in the process plate are separated by a separating device and released to obtain extracted nucleic acids containing fluids,
• said extracted nucleic acids containing fluids are transferred to the cavities of said output plate by disposable pipette tips, and
• each of said samples is assigned one-to-one to a cavity of said reagent plate, at least one of said disposable pipette tips and a cavity of said output plate.