Microarraying apparatus, pin head therefor and spotting method

A microarraying apparatus, comprising:

• an apparatus bed defining an arraying surface for carrying one or more slides;
• a well plate platform for carrying at least one well plate;
• and
• a manually actuatable height adjustment mechanism operable to alter the height of the well plate platform relative to that of the apparatus bed.

A microarraying apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus bed defining an arraying surface for carrying one or more slides;
• a well plate platform for carrying at least one well plate;
• a height adjustment mechanism operable to alter the height of the well plate platform relative to that of the apparatus bed;
• a mounting frame mounted over the apparatus bed;
• and
• a pin head mounted on the mounting frame and being provided with a drive system operable to move the pin head across the arraying surface, the pin head comprising a pin holder for holding an array of pins, a vertical drive operable to move the pin holder in a vertical axis transverse to the arraying surface, and a positioning mechanism that mechanically defines a bottom position of the pin holder.

A spotting method using a microarraying apparatus having an apparatus bed, a pin head holding a plurality of pins, and a well plate platform, the method comprising:

• arranging at least one slide on the apparatus bed to provide a spotting surface;
• arranging a well plate filled to a level with spotting liquid on the well plate platform;
• vertically aligning the well plate platform relative to the apparatus bed so that the spotting surface lies at a desired height at or below the level of the spotting liquid;
• dipping one of the pins from the pin head into the spotting liquid by moving the pin to a lowered position;
• moving the pin head across the microarraying apparatus to a spotting position;
• and
• depositing the spotting liquid onto the spotting surface by moving the pin once again to the lowered position.