Apparatus for effecting reactions comprising a plurality of reaction vessels for holding reagents, an electrically conducting polymer which emits heat when an electric current is passed through it, and control device for controlling supply of current to the polymer, the polymer being connectable to an electrical supply via the control device. The control device may be arranged such that different currents and therefore different temperatures can be achieved in each reaction vessel. Certain novel reaction vessels are described and claimed. The apparatus are reaction vessels may be used in carrying out reactions which require multiple temperature stages such as amplification reactions such as the polymerase chain reaction.
The use of incubation means for the controlled heating of biological materials, said means comprising an electrically conducting polymer connectable to a power supply, said polymer being either contiguous or integral with an incubation vessel, or adapted to be in thermal contact with an incubation vessel. Incubation apparatus including such means and a method for culturing biological materials using them are also described and claimed.
7537927 - Reaction system for thermal cycling - Owned by The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Wiltshire,GB) N/A
Method and apparatus for carrying out a thermal cycling reaction, wherein a succession of samples is conveyed through a series of sequentially arranged temperature control sites, each of the sites comprising means for supplying an electric current to, or inducing an electric current in, sample-containing vessels passing through it so as to induce temperature changes in the samples. Also provided is a sample support and its production, the support comprising a succession of sample vessels arranged sequentially one behind the next, preferably in the form of a linked chain, the support comprising an electrically conducting, preferably plastics, material which heats when an electric current passes through it.
A holding plate for selectively heating and cooling samples in a solution has two opposing surfaces, and a plurality of cylindrically-shaped through-hole wells for holding the samples. Each well extends between the two surfaces of the holding plate, and has an aspect ratio of greater than 5:1, and a diameter less than approximately 500 microns. A metallic coating is applied by vapor deposition techniques on a surface of the holding plate. Importantly, this coating extends into each well through a distance of approximately one and a half well diameters for contact with the solution and the samples. A heat transfer device is thermally connected to the metallic coating for selectively heating and cooling the samples in the wells of the holding plate.
