A narrow neck bottle is washed and rinsed by a method comprising the steps of supporting the bottle in an upside down position, injecting water containing air bubbles, into the bottle through a tube extending through the narrow neck of the bottle, accumulating air released from the poured water in an upper space in the bottle and expelling air and water remaining in the bottle by the accumulated air. Apparatus for carrying out this method comprises an aspirator installed such that its discharge pipe is directed upwardly, and connected to the discharge pipe, and a support for supporting the narrow neck bottle such that when supported by the support, the narrow neck of the bottle engages against the tube and that a gap is formed between the inner bottom surface of the bottle and the free end of the tube.
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for producing microarrays of biological samples using an improved slide platform, vacuum manifold, and variable pin contact velocity. Slides onto which spotting pins produce the microarray of biological samples are secured on a flat slide platform using magnetic unit bars. The vacuum manifold effects optimal cleaning of the spotting pins by inducing increased air flow and turbulence. By reducing the velocity of the spotting pins before or after contact with the blot pad or the microarray slide, the morphology of biological samples deposited may be kept uniform. Similarly, low impact and separating velocities while acquiring biological materials prevent the pins from being overloaded with solution on the outside of the pin and causing sample wastage and non-uniform spotting.
