An incubation apparatus for use in automated biochemical analyzer systems which comprises a block of thermoconductive material having rows of wells for the reception of sample carriers to be incubated with temperature control attached to the block; the block resting with well openings facing downward upon a pair of insulating plates so arranged that by movement of one of the plates, a row of wells is exposed so as to allow a number of sample carriers, equivalent in number to the number of wells ...

In a continuously rotating container having substrates to be processed, a loading and unloading mechanism is provided which introduces and removes the substrates without interruption of the rotation of the container.

A liquid transport device capable of introducing and transporting a liquid and preventing a backward flow of the liquid in a small-sized analysis system is provided. The liquid transport device has a substrate 201, an ejection orifice 205, which is formed integrally with the substrate 201 and through which a liquid is ejected, a space portion 210, which is formed so as to communicate with the ejection orifice 205 and through which the liquid ejected from the ejection orifice flies, and a flow ch...

A transport system is provided for a sample testing machine. The transport system includes a carrier holding a set of test sample devices and a drive subsystem for moving the carrier through the sample testing machine. The drive subsystem includes a reciprocating motor-driven block engaging the carrier and moving the carrier back and forth in a predetermined longitudinal path extending along a longitudinal axis from an entrance station to a plurality of processing stations in the sample testing ...

A liquid handling robot for handling well plates. The robot has a powered anvil which loads pipette tips from a tray onto the cones of a liquid handling head by first clamping the liquid handling head to the anvil and then ramming a movable plate carrying the pipette tips onto the cones. The robot also allows for fully automated swapping between different heads, such as liquid handling heads or pin heads. A head parking station is provided for parking heads when they are not being used. The robo...

A random access reagent container handling system using a reagent container shuttle to move reagent containers between a loading tray and at least one linear reagent container tray and at least one circular reagent carousel. The reagent container tray is positioned as needed beneath the reagent container shuttle by a reagent tray shuttle.

Without causing an increase in size and complication of an automatic analyzer, the efficiency of washing cuvettes can be increased and the amount of detergent used can be more effectively saved in comparison with known analyzers. In an automatic analyzer in which a sample and a reagent are dispensed into each of a plurality of cuvettes, a resulting reaction solution is mixed under stirring, and reaction states of the mixed reaction solution are measured successively. The automatic analyzer inclu...

A sealer for a sample testing instrument is disclosed that cuts and seals a fluid conduit that connects a test sample device with a fluid receptacle containing a fluid sample. The sealer includes an enclosure and a protective shield to protect a user or technician from contact with the cutting element assembly in the sealer. The cutting element assembly includes a spring-loaded element that engages the test sample device and holds it in a fixed position while a cutting element (e.g., hot wire) c...

A method of handling a compound storage vessel (4) disposed in a cavity in a rack, the cavity having an upper and lower opening. The method includes introducing a lifting pin (15) into the cavity through the lower opening to urge the compound storage vessel upwards within the cavity. A lifting head (16) may be placed above the rack for receiving compound storage vessels.

The present invention provides multi-well plates and column arrays in which samples (e.g., cell lysates containing nucleic acids of interest, such as RNA) can be analyzed and/or processed. In one embodiment, the microfiltration arrangement is a multilayer structure, including (i) a column plate having an array of minicolumns into which samples can be placed, (ii) a discrete filter element disposed in each minicolumn, (iii) a drip-director plate having a corresponding array of drip directors thro...