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US 8,945,881 B2Granted
Localized temperature control for spatial arrays of reaction media
AssigneeBio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsGerman Arciniegas, Jeff Ceremony, Daniel Y. Chu, Charles W. Ragsdale
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Abstract
Individual temperature control in multiple reactions performed simultaneously in a spatial array such as a multi-well plate is achieved by thermoelectric modules with individual control, with each module supplying heat to or drawing heat from a single region within the array, the region containing either a single reaction vessel or a group of reaction vessels.
Claims14
Apparatus for performing polymerase chain reactions in a plurality of samples, said apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of thermally conductive sample blocks for polymerase chain reactions, arranged in a fixed horizontal array, wherein each sample block comprises a plurality of sample wells and is configured to retain a plurality of samples;
- a plurality of independently controlled thermoelectric modules, a thermoelectric module positioned underneath each said sample block, wherein the thermoelectric modules are configured to cycle the temperatures of the sample blocks for polymerase chain reactions;
- a layer of thermally conductive grease between each sample block and each thermoelectric module;
- and
- a solid barrier of thermally insulating material positioned between each pair of adjacent sample blocks to thermally isolate the sample blocks of the pair from each other.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.