Disclosure of Invention
Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to overcome the defects of low automation degree, low detection flux and poor safety in the prior art, thereby providing a fully automatic nucleic acid detection system, comprising:
the sample pretreatment unit is used for transferring a sample to be detected to a nucleic acid extraction pore plate;
at least one nucleic acid extraction unit arranged in the corresponding nucleic acid extraction area, wherein each nucleic acid extraction area is used for arranging one nucleic acid extraction unit which is used for extracting nucleic acid in a sample to be detected on the nucleic acid extraction pore plate;
at least one system preparation unit, at least one system preparation unit connected with one nucleic acid extraction unit, wherein the system preparation unit is used for mixing nucleic acid amplification reagents with the nucleic acid from the nucleic acid extraction unit;
at least one nucleic acid detection unit, wherein one system preparation unit is at least connected with one nucleic acid detection unit, and the nucleic acid detection unit is used for carrying out nucleic acid amplification and detection on nucleic acid from the system preparation unit;
a consumable preparation unit, connected to the sample pretreatment unit, the nucleic acid extraction unit and the system configuration unit, respectively, for providing consumables to the sample pretreatment unit, the nucleic acid extraction unit and the system configuration unit;
the sample post-processing unit is respectively connected with the nucleic acid extraction unit and the nucleic acid detection unit and is used for receiving the medical wastes generated by the nucleic acid extraction unit and the nucleic acid detection unit;
and a plurality of transfer units respectively disposed between the sample pre-treatment unit and the nucleic acid extraction unit, between different nucleic acid extraction units, between the consumable preparation unit and the sample pre-treatment unit, between the consumable preparation unit and the system preparation unit, between the nucleic acid extraction unit and the system preparation unit, between the system preparation unit and the nucleic acid detection unit, between the sample post-treatment unit and the nucleic acid extraction unit, and between the sample post-treatment unit and the nucleic acid detection unit, wherein each unit forms an independent airtight space.
Preferably, the transfer unit includes:
the clamping device is used for transferring materials among the connecting units;
and the automatic partition plate is used for isolating or communicating the transfer unit and other units.
Preferably, the transfer unit further includes:
and the gas generating device is used for generating an air barrier for preventing the transfer unit from exchanging substances with other units.
Preferably, the nucleic acid extraction regions are multiple, and regions for arranging the transfer units are reserved between different nucleic acid extraction regions.
Preferably, each unit is provided with safety protection means for preventing exchange of matter between the units and the outside.
Preferably, the safety shield apparatus comprises:
the pressure control module is arranged in the safety protection device and used for controlling the air pressure in each unit so as to form a pressure gradient between the units;
the high-efficiency filtering module is arranged in the safety protection device and used for filtering gas entering the system from the outside, intercepting pollutants and discharging the pollutants out of the system.
Preferably, the gas pressure of the sample pretreatment unit is lower than the gas pressure of the nucleic acid extraction unit, the gas pressure of the nucleic acid extraction unit is lower than the gas pressure of the system configuration unit, and the gas pressure of the system configuration unit is higher than the gas pressure of the nucleic acid detection unit.
Preferably, the safety shield apparatus further comprises:
the ultraviolet disinfection and sterilization module is arranged in the safety protection device and is used for removing pollutants in each unit of the system;
and the aerosol removing module is arranged in the safety protection device and is used for removing the aerosol in each unit of the system.
Preferably, the system preparation unit comprises a low-temperature system preparation station, an automatic film pasting device, an automatic centrifugal device and an automatic oscillation device.
Preferably, the kit further comprises a computer control module for respectively connecting and controlling the consumable preparation unit, the sample pretreatment unit, the nucleic acid extraction unit, the system configuration unit, the nucleic acid detection unit and the sample post-treatment unit.
The technical scheme of the invention has the following advantages:
1. according to the full-automatic nucleic acid detection system provided by the invention, each functional unit adopts a unitized thought, each unit is connected and transferred with materials by using the transfer unit, the increase of the nucleic acid detection quantity is realized by using the expandability of each unit, and each link of nucleic acid detection is covered by the detection system, so that the manual operation is reduced, further the harm to operators is avoided, and the detection efficiency is improved.
2. Each unit is provided with a safety protection device, and the safety protection devices avoid cross contamination among the units and contamination between the outside and the inside of the system.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.
In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.
In addition, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below may be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.
Example 1
The present embodiment provides a fully automatic nucleic acid detecting system, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, comprising at least one consumable preparation unit 101, at least one sample pre-treatment unit 102, at least one nucleic acid extraction unit 103, at least one system preparation unit 104, at least one nucleic acid detection unit 105, at least one sample post-treatment unit 106, and a plurality of transfer units 107.
The consumable preparation unit 101 is connected to the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, and the system preparation unit 104 via a transfer unit 107, respectively, for supplying consumables to the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, and the system preparation unit 104. The consumable preparation unit 101 includes, but is not limited to, a movable well plate station (not shown), a well plate stack (not shown), a multi-axis robot (not shown), a liquid distribution device (not shown), a reagent storage device (not shown), a transfer guide (not shown), and the like, wherein the movable well plate station is used for placing a well plate and sliding on the transfer guide, the well plate stack is used for placing a well plate containing consumables, the multi-axis robot is used for moving the well plate containing consumables from the well plate stack to the movable well plate station, the reagent storage device is used for storing nucleic acid extraction reagents, nucleic acid amplification reagents, and the like, and the liquid distribution device is used for distributing the reagents from the reagent storage device to the well plate, wherein the consumables include the well plate, the. In some embodiments, the consumable preparation unit 101 may also adopt other prior arts, as long as it can supplement consumables for each unit in the system, and dispense nucleic acid extraction reagents and nucleic acid amplification reagents into the well plate.
The sample pre-treatment unit 102 is connected to the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 through a transfer unit 107, and the sample pre-treatment unit 102 includes, but is not limited to, a mobile well plate station (not shown), a high temperature inactivation device (not shown), an automatic code scanning device (not shown), an automatic cover opening/closing device (not shown), a multi-channel pipetting device (not shown), a multi-axis manipulator (not shown), a transfer guide (not shown), and the like.
The method comprises the steps of putting a sample tube array with collected samples into a sample pretreatment unit 102, scanning two-dimensional codes or bar codes and the like of all sample tubes by an automatic code scanning device, inputting information of all sample tubes, killing viruses in the samples by a high-temperature inactivation device, opening or closing the sample tubes by an automatic cover opening/closing device, transferring the samples to be detected in the sample tubes to a pore plate for nucleic acid extraction by a multi-channel liquid transferring device, placing the pore plate with the samples to be detected on a movable pore plate station by a multi-shaft manipulator, and enabling the movable pore plate station to slide back and forth on a transfer guide rail. In some embodiments, the sample pre-processing unit 102 may also adopt other existing technologies as long as pathogen inactivation, sample transfer, sample information entry, sample tube/well plate transfer and the like can be achieved.
The nucleic acid extraction units 103 are arranged in corresponding nucleic acid extraction areas, each nucleic acid extraction area is provided with one nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the space of the nucleic acid extraction areas is large enough to accommodate enough nucleic acid extraction units 103, and areas for arranging the transfer units 107 are reserved between different nucleic acid extraction areas, so that when the flux of nucleic acid extraction needs to be enlarged, the same type units and/or different types of units can be connected through the transfer units 107, and the number of the nucleic acid extraction units 103 and the number of final nucleic acid detections are enlarged. In this embodiment, there are three nucleic acid extraction units 103, and the three nucleic acid extraction units 103 are connected to each other by a transfer unit 107.
The nucleic acid extraction unit 103 includes, but is not limited to, a magnetic rod array (not shown), a magnetic sleeve array (not shown), a clamping jaw array (not shown), a fixed well plate station (not shown), a mobile well plate station (not shown), a multi-axis motion robot arm (not shown), and the like. The nucleic acid from the sample pretreatment unit 102 in the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 is mixed with the nucleic acid extraction reagent from the consumable preparation unit 101, and in this unit, the mixing of the magnetic beads and the liquid, the transfer of the magnetic beads, and the transfer of the well plate are realized. The release, the adsorption, the purification and the desorption of the nucleic acid are realized through the mixing of the magnetic beads and the liquid and the transfer of the magnetic beads. Of course, in some embodiments, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 may also use other existing techniques to extract nucleic acids from the sample to be detected on the nucleic acid extraction well plate.
The system preparation unit 104 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 are connected with at least one system preparation unit 104. In the present embodiment, three nucleic acid extraction units 103 are each connected to a system preparation unit 104 via one transfer unit 107, and the system preparation unit 104 is used to mix nucleic acid amplification reagents from the consumable preparation unit 101 with nucleic acids from the nucleic acid extraction units 103.
As shown in fig. 3, the system configuration unit 104 includes, but is not limited to, a multi-channel pipetting device (not shown), an automatic film pasting device 1041, an automatic shaking device 1042, an automatic centrifugation device 1043, a gripper array (not shown), a multi-axis robot (not shown), a low temperature system configuration station 1044, a mobile well plate station (not shown), and the like. In the system preparation unit 104, the nucleic acid amplification reagent from the consumable preparation unit 101 and the nucleic acid from the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 are fully mixed, the loaded and purified nucleic acid enters a nucleic acid amplification reaction system, and the mixing of the nucleic acid and the nucleic acid amplification reagent is completed by automatic film pasting, shaking, centrifugation and the like. In some embodiments, other existing techniques may also be employed to effect the transfer of architectural configuration unit 104.
The nucleic acid detecting unit 105, the system preparing unit 104 are connected to at least one nucleic acid detecting unit 105, in this embodiment, the system preparing unit 104 is connected to one nucleic acid detecting unit 105 through the transmitting unit 107. The nucleic acid detecting unit 105 includes, but is not limited to, a real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR instrument (not shown) and/or a constant temperature amplification detector (not shown), a mobile well plate station (not shown), a clamping jaw array (not shown), a multi-axis robot (not shown), etc., and the nucleic acid detecting unit 105 is used for performing nucleic acid amplification and detection on nucleic acid from the system preparing unit 104, and loading, removing, and transferring the well plate. In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 4, the detection of the nucleic acid by the accounting is completed by transferring the nucleic acid from the line configuration unit 104 to the nucleic acid detection region 1051 by the combined action of the multi-axis robot, the mobile well plate station, and the like. In some embodiments, the nucleic acid detection unit 105 can also employ other existing nucleic acid detection devices and/or methods.
The sample post-processing unit 106 is connected with the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 and the nucleic acid detection unit 105 through a plurality of transfer units 107, the sample post-processing unit 106 includes, but is not limited to, a mobile well plate station (not shown), a clamping jaw array (not shown), a multi-axis manipulator (not shown), a high temperature sterilization device (not shown), a garbage station (not shown), and the like, and the sample post-processing unit 106 is used for receiving medical garbage generated by other units, and the medical garbage includes a used well plate, a sucker, and the like. In some embodiments, other units (the consumable preparation unit 101, the pre-sample processing unit 102, and the system configuration unit 104) may also be connected to the post-sample processing unit 106 through the transfer unit 107. The sample post-processing unit 106 may have other conventional techniques as long as it can transfer, process, and store medical waste, degrade nucleic acid, and the like.
The transfer units 107 are provided in plural, in this embodiment, the transfer units 107 are disposed between the sample pre-treatment unit 102 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, between different nucleic acid extraction units 103, between the consumable preparation unit 101 and the sample pre-treatment unit 102, between the consumable preparation unit 101 and the system preparation unit 104, between the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 and the system preparation unit 104, between the system preparation unit 104 and the nucleic acid detection unit 105, between the sample post-treatment unit 106 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, and between the sample post-treatment unit 106 and the nucleic acid detection unit 105. In some embodiments, the transfer unit 107 may also be disposed between the consumable preparation unit 101 and the sample post-processing unit 106, between the sample pre-processing unit 102 and the sample post-processing unit 106, and between the system configuration unit 104 and the sample post-processing unit 106. In order to increase the nucleic acid detection throughput, the number of other functional units (consumable preparation unit 101, sample pretreatment unit 102, system configuration unit 104, nucleic acid detection unit 105) may be increased, and consumables and the like may be transferred by providing transfer units 107 between the same system configuration unit 104, the same nucleic acid detection unit 105, and the like.
The transfer unit 107 includes, but is not limited to, a moving orifice station (not shown), a transfer rail (not shown), a robot (not shown), an automatic partition (not shown), a pressure-tight seal (not shown), etc., and the transfer unit 107 is used to transfer materials between the units. The consumable preparation unit 101, the sample pre-treatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system preparation unit 104, the nucleic acid detection unit 105, the sample post-treatment unit 106, and the transfer unit 107 form independent airtight spaces, so that the occurrence of material exchange with the outside or other units is avoided, and the independence of each unit is ensured. The pressure-resistant sealing ring is arranged at the joint of each unit to prevent the exchange of substances among the units.
In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, the transfer unit 107 includes a gripping device and an automatic partition 1073 for isolating or passing the transfer unit with other units, the gripping device includes a transfer guide 1071 and a gripping jaw 1072 provided on the transfer guide 1071, the gripping jaw 1072 is slidable on the transfer guide 1071, and the gripping jaw 1072 is used for material transfer between the respective connection units (i.e., the same type or different types of units connected by the transfer unit). For example, a transfer unit 107 between the sample pre-treatment unit 102 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, after transferring the sample to be detected to the nucleic acid extraction orifice plate, the orifice plate is moved to the vicinity of the connection between the sample pretreatment unit 102 and the transfer unit 107, the automatic partition 1073 is opened to pass through the sample pretreatment unit 102 and the transfer unit 107, the mechanical arm drives the clamping jaw 1072 to clamp the orifice plate and enter the transfer unit 107, the automatic partition 1073 is closed to isolate the sample pretreatment unit 102 and the transfer unit 107, after the sterilization of the orifice plate in the transfer unit 107 is completed, the transfer guide 1071 transfers the holding jaw and the gripped well plate to the vicinity of the automatic partition 1073 between the transfer unit 107 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the automatic partition 1073 opens the downstream nucleic acid extraction unit 103 and the transfer unit 107, the holding jaw 1072 moves the well plate out of the transfer unit 107 to the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, and the holding jaw 1072 is recovered and the automatic partition 1073 is closed to isolate the transfer unit 107 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103.
As shown in fig. 8, in order to prevent hazardous substance exchange between other units and the delivery unit 107 when the automatic partition 1073 is opened, the delivery unit 107 further includes a gas generating device 1074, and the gas generating device 1074 is provided at a position corresponding to the automatic partition 1073. When the automatic partition 1073 is opened, the gas generator 1074 generates an air barrier at the position of the automatic partition 1073 to prevent the exchange of biohazardous substances between the transfer unit 107 and other units or prevent the exchange of biomass between units of the same type, and does not affect the movement of the transfer guide, the manipulator and other parts in each unit because of no addition of physical structure. In some embodiments, the transferring unit 107 may also adopt other existing technologies as long as the function of the transferring unit 107 in the present embodiment can be realized.
In order to further avoid the exchange of biohazardous substances among different units, among the same units and between the outside and the inside of the system, maintain the low aerosol environment in the units and avoid accounting pollution, each unit is provided with a safety protection device. As shown in fig. 7, the transfer unit 107 is provided with a safety guard 108.
Safety shield 108 includes: the pressure-resistant sealing frame (not shown), the pressure control module (not shown), high-efficient filter module (not shown), the pressure control module sets up in the safety device, be used for controlling the atmospheric pressure in the individual unit, so that form the pressure gradient between each unit, install air cycle module (not shown) on the pressure-resistant sealing frame promptly, air cycle module adjusts the atmospheric pressure in each unit through the gas in the exchange system or outside gas, and the atmospheric pressure in every unit all is less than the system outside, outside gas enters into in the unit via air cycle module, the gas in the unit is through air cycle module discharge system, discharge system after the filtration interception pollutant of inside circulation process high-efficient filter module.
The pressure control module forms a pressure gradient of: the gas pressure of the sample pretreatment unit 102 is lower than the gas pressure of the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the gas pressure of the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 is lower than the gas pressure of the system configuration unit 104, the gas pressure of the system configuration unit 104 is higher than the gas pressure of the nucleic acid detection unit 105, the gas pressure of the consumable preparation unit 101 is higher than the gas pressures of the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system configuration unit 104, and the gas pressures of the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system configuration unit 104, and the nucleic acid detection unit 105 are higher than the gas pressure of the.
As shown in fig. 5, the formed pressure gradient causes the gas to flow from the nucleic acid low-contamination region to the nucleic acid high-contamination region, that is, the gas in the system preparation unit 104 flows to the nucleic acid detection unit 105 and the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the gas in the nucleic acid extraction unit 103 flows to the sample pretreatment unit 102, the gas in the consumable material preparation unit 101 flows to the gas pressure in the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, and the system configuration unit 104, and the gas in the sample pretreatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system configuration unit 104, and the nucleic acid detection unit 105 flows to the sample post-treatment unit 106.
Safety device 108 further includes an ultraviolet disinfection module (not shown) and an aerosol removal module (not shown), both of which are disposed in safety device 108, the ultraviolet disinfection module is used for removing pollutants, pathogens and other hazardous substances inside each unit of the system, and the aerosol removal module is used for removing aerosols inside each unit of the system, maintaining a low aerosol environment inside each unit, and thus avoiding nucleic acid contamination. For example, when the transfer unit 107 transfers the material to each unit, the aerosol cleaning module is opened in the transfer unit 107, and after a lapse of time, the material is transferred to the next unit.
In order to make the nucleic acid detection system possible to reduce manual operation, the nucleic acid detection system further comprises a computer control module (not shown) connected with the consumable preparation unit 101, the sample pre-treatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system preparation unit 104, the nucleic acid detection unit 105, the sample post-treatment unit 106 and the transfer unit 107, and used for controlling the consumable preparation unit 101, the sample pre-treatment unit 102, the nucleic acid extraction unit 103, the system configuration unit 104, the nucleic acid detection unit 105, the sample post-treatment unit 106 and the transfer unit 107, so that the whole system is fully automated.
In the nucleic acid detecting system provided in this embodiment, the steps that require manual operation are as follows:
1. consumable materials, reagents and the like are loaded into the consumable material preparation unit 101, and the whole system is started to run;
2. placing the collected sample tube array into a sample pretreatment unit 102;
3. after the sample is transferred to the subsequent unit, taking out the sample tube array to be retained from the sample pretreatment unit 102, and putting in a new sample to be detected again until all samples are put in;
4. acquiring a detection result from software for controlling the whole system, analyzing and processing detection data, and printing a detection report;
5. the medical garbage disposal system is characterized in that the medical garbage disposal system comprises a sample post-processing unit, a garbage station, a garbage bin and a garbage bin, wherein the garbage bin is used for storing garbage, the garbage bin is used for storing garbage.
The automated nucleic acid detection procedure was as follows:
1. the nucleic acid extraction reagent and the nucleic acid detection reagent are dispensed into the well plate in the consumable preparation unit 101 and then transferred to the corresponding units;
2. the sample tube array is subjected to code scanning and cover opening in the sample pretreatment unit 102, the multichannel pipetting device sucks a sample into the pore plate by using the suction head, and then the sample tube array is closed;
3. the well plate containing the sample is transferred to the nucleic acid extraction unit 103;
4. the magnetic rod and the magnetic sleeve are matched to complete the processes of sample cracking, accounting adsorption, impurity cleaning, nucleic acid elution and the like in sequence;
5. the well plate containing the extracted and purified nucleic acid is transferred to the system preparation unit 104;
6. and adding the purified nucleic acid into a pore plate filled with a nucleic acid amplification detection reagent by using a liquid transfer device, and sequentially transferring the pore plate to an automatic film sticking device, an automatic oscillation device and an automatic centrifugal device to complete the mixing of the sample and the reagent.
7. The pore plate is transferred to the nucleic acid detection unit 105, then transferred to the nucleic acid detection area 1051, and subjected to real-time fluorescence detection;
8. the detected well plate is transferred and transferred to the sample post-processing unit 106;
9. consumables (a pore plate, a suction head and the like) used in the steps are transmitted to the sample post-processing unit 106 through the transmission unit 107;
10. the consumables are classified and placed in an autoclave to begin sterilization;
11. the processed consumables are placed in a waste station.
The full-automatic nucleic acid detection system provided by the embodiment adopts a unitized concept, each link of nucleic acid detection is formed into an automatic unit (comprising a consumable preparation unit 101, a sample pretreatment unit 102, a nucleic acid extraction unit 103, a system configuration unit 104, a nucleic acid detection unit 105, a sample post-processing unit 106 and a transmission unit 107), and the transmission unit 107 is used for combining and connecting the units to form a set of complete full-automatic nucleic acid detection system, so that manual operation is reduced, and possible damage to operators is avoided. Meanwhile, due to the unitization thought adopted by the embodiment, the parallel use of the units of the same type (namely, the parallel connection of a plurality of sample pretreatment units, a nucleic acid extraction unit, a system configuration unit or a nucleic acid detection unit) can be realized, and the expansion of the detection flux can be further realized. The transfer unit 107 is connected with each functional unit, so that manual transfer of samples is replaced, the automation degree of the whole process is improved, buffering is provided for each functional unit, and cross contamination among the units is avoided. Moreover, each functional unit can work independently, namely, a new round of samples can be put into the unit for processing after each batch of samples in the unit are processed, the whole process of waiting for a batch of samples is not required, the detection time is shortened, and the detection efficiency is improved.
Each unit also adopts a safety protection device with biological safety protection capability, is particularly suitable for nucleic acid detection of highly pathogenic pathogens, is connected in a sealing manner, and avoids the pollution of a detection system to the outside.
The full-automatic nucleic acid detection system provided by the embodiment has the innovative points of modular design of each unit and connection and layout of each unit, and in order to realize the functions of the system, each unit only needs to adopt the prior art.
It should be understood that the above examples are only for clarity of illustration and are not intended to limit the embodiments. Other variations and modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art in light of the above description. And are neither required nor exhaustive of all embodiments. And obvious variations or modifications therefrom are within the scope of the invention.