Systems and methods for preparing low volume analyte array elements
US6024925A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 23, 1997 |
| Grant date | Feb 15, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 23, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T436/2575
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The invention provides, in one aspect, serial and parallel dispensing tools that can deliver defined and controlled volumes of fluid to generate multi-element arrays of sample material on a substrate surface. The substrates surfaces can be flat or geometrically altered to include wells of receiving material. In one embodiment, the invention provides a tool that allows the parallel development of a sample array. To this end, the tool can be understood as an assembly of vesicle elements, or pins, wherein each of the pins can include a narrow interior chamber suitable for holding manual liter volumes of fluid. Each of the pins can fit inside a housing that forms an interior chamber. The interior chamber can be connected to a pressure source that will control the pressure within the interior chamber to regulate the flow of fluid within the interior chamber of the pins. In a further embodiment, the invention then passes the prepared sample arrays to a plate assembly that disposes the sample arrays for analysis by mass spectrometry.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.