JP2001161342A - Holding base for microtube - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold a microtube so that an integrally molded type microtube can be adopted as a container to be dispensed in a liquid dispenser. SOLUTION: This holding base for a microtube is obtained by fixing a container part of the microtube and fixing and holding a lid part of the microtube at a vertical angle from the liquid surface for carrying out the dispensation by a planar structure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microtube holding table for holding a microtube, which is a container for carrying out a reaction or the like by placing a small amount of a biological sample solution therein. The present invention relates to a microtube holder for holding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, in the field of biochemistry centering on molecular biology, there is a routine and routine method of individually collecting a small amount of a sample and reacting the sample with various enzymes and the like. Has been done in large quantities. In such reactions, it is mainly necessary to extremely avoid contamination between biological samples or from outside. In addition, since a small amount of a sample is used and centrifugal separation is often performed, a disposable small container called a microtube, which is made of a tapered resin and integrally formed with a lid and a container, is frequently used.

That is, in a normal state, in order to avoid contamination in the air, the lid is closed as much as possible to avoid contamination, and the lid is opened only when it is necessary to perform necessary processing such as dispensing. Lid (1) and container (2) for dosing
Is an integrated mold.

[0004] In these vessels called microtubes, extremely small amounts of 500-1500 microliters are usually dispensed, but they are relatively inexpensive and widely used in the field of molecular biology. It is used as a container for dispensing.

[0005] In the microtube used for these purposes, the lid (1) and the container (2) are integrally molded, so that the lid can be closed by a simple operation without separating them. Often used because of its benefits.
However, in a normal dispensing operation, since the lid (1) is not fixed when the lid (1) is open, the lid often comes into contact with a pipette for dispensing and the dispensing operation is hindered. Or dispensing correctly.

Further, in an automatic dispensing apparatus which has been rapidly spreading recently, the container (2) is made strong because the microtube has a lid (1) and a container (2) which are integrated. Even if it is fixed to the container, the lid (1), which must be opened for dispensing, is made of resin and connected to the container (2), so that not only the container (2) is fixed, but also The lid (1) also had to be fixed at the same time, and it was impossible to do so, so there was a fatal drawback that the microtube could not be adopted as a container to be dispensed in the automatic liquid dispensing apparatus.

That is, recently, in the field of molecular biology, a process of dispensing a large amount of sample requires a dispensed liquid volume of 1 to 500
In recent years, many mechanical devices have been developed that automatically perform such dispensing work, which is a very small amount of microliters and requires a minimum amount of biological contamination and is a cumbersome and mentally painful work. . The basic configuration of these devices is that a dispensing part called a nozzle or resin pipette tip automatically operates in space and the dispensing part from the target container to the liquid surface of the solution to be dispensed This is a form in which the liquid in the container is dispensed by being lowered.

The container which can be adopted in these automatic liquid dispensing apparatuses is that, in addition to being capable of being firmly fixed to a specific portion in the apparatus, the dispensing section of the liquid dispensing apparatus for performing liquid dispensing is appropriately operated during dispensing operation. In order to be able to descend into the container, it is an essential requirement that the lid (1) is completely fixed not at the upper part of the liquid to be dispensed but at another position. Therefore, a test tube or the like having no lid (1) is usually used as a container for the liquid to be dispensed.

However, in the microtube, the container part (2) and the lid part (1) are integrally molded, and even if the container is firmly fixed to a specific part in the apparatus, the lid part (1) is made of a material. Due to the characteristics of the resin that is bent in the space or exists at an unspecified position, or when the position of the lid changes over time and the dispensing unit tries to descend to the liquid level of the container to be dispensed, For the reason that the target liquid cannot be dispensed at all due to contact, it has not been adopted as a container for the liquid to be dispensed in the automatic dispensing apparatus.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and in addition to the function of holding the container portion (2) of the microtube itself on the holding stand for holding the microtube, the lid portion of the microtube has been completely new. The (1) can be firmly fixed and can be appropriately dispensed in a normal dispensing operation. In an automatic liquid dispensing apparatus and the like, a microtube holding table having a high function that a microtube can be used as a container to be dispensed is used. It was made to provide.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems The feature of the microtube holding table according to the present invention made for realizing such an object is that the lid fixing portion (4) for fixing the lid (1) of the microtube is provided. ).

That is, in fixing the microtube at a specific position in the space, the container part (2) is fixed and the lid part (1) is also fixed with the lid of the microtube opened, thereby dispensing operation. In this case, the dispensing unit comes into contact with the lid (1) and dispensing cannot be performed. For example, in a normal automatic liquid dispensing device, a dispensing unit such as a nozzle or a pipette tip descends into a container during liquid dispensing. Thigh cover (1)
Since the liquid is not touched at all, the liquid contained in the microtube can be surely dispensed and can be newly adopted as a container to be dispensed in the automatic liquid dispensing apparatus.

Therefore, the lid portion (1) of the microtube can be easily and manually fixed to a specific position, and furthermore, the lid fixing portion (4) having a plate-like structure having a concave portion is provided on the microtube holding table, so that the microtube can be fixed. The present invention has been completed by finding that the lid of the tube is firmly fixed to a specific position in the space, and therefore can be dispensed without the influence of the lid (1) in a normal dispensing operation.

The microtube referred to in the present invention is made of resin and has a container part (2) and a lid part (1), and usually has a structure in which the lid part (1) and the container part (2) are connected. There is no particular limitation on the material of the microtube or the amount or structure of the liquid to be contained therein, but it is particularly preferable that the microtube is a disposable microtube made of a resin material.

The term "integral molding" as used in the present invention means that the structure or material difference or size is limited as long as the lid (1) and the container (2) of the microtube are normally in communication with each other. However, a microtube made of the same material is particularly preferable.

The lid fixing portion (4) in the present invention has a function of sandwiching the lid portion (1) of the microtube with a physical pressing force and fixing the lid portion (1) at a specific position in space. The material, structure, size, etc. are not particularly limited as long as the material has a certain structure, but a plate-like structure having a concave portion in the structure is particularly preferable.

According to the present invention, the container part (2) means the surface including the lid part (1) fixed to be vertical and the container part (2).
The angle between the liquid and the liquid surface when the liquid is filled is close to 90 degrees, but the angle between the liquid and the liquid is not particularly limited, but it is particularly preferably 45 degrees or more and 135 degrees or less.

The plate-like structure referred to in the present invention means that at least a surface holding the back surface of the lid portion (1) of the microtube is further formed on the inner surface of the lid portion (1) of the microtube facing the container portion (2). As long as it has a plate-like structure having a surface to be held, the flatness and material of the surface and the distance between both surfaces are not limited.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the lid (1) of the microtube can be fixed firmly and vertically. When the lid (1) is fixed perpendicular to the liquid surface of the container (2), an extremely large number of microtubes can be fixed per unit area, so that dispensing can be performed with many microtubes in a fixed area. There is a very advantageous advantage.

That is, in an automatic liquid processing apparatus such as a liquid dispensing apparatus, the operating range of an operating section such as a dispensing section is limited, and having a large number of containers to be dispensed in a small area makes the apparatus compact. This is a very important requirement.

However, in the conventional method, since the microtube lid (1) cannot be fixed and the microtube known as a small-sized container cannot be used as a container to be dispensed, a test is performed as a container to be dispensed. There is a drawback that a tube or the like must be used and the size of the automatic liquid dispensing apparatus itself becomes large. Therefore, if the microtube holder is used as a holder for the container to be dispensed, an extremely small liquid dispensing apparatus can be provided.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited only to this embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing the structure of a microtube holding table according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the present microtube holder, a plate-shaped lid holding portion having a concave portion therein and a microtube container portion (2)
It consists of a container part fixing part for fixing. In the lid fixing part, a groove part (8) for installing a connector part (3) of a microtube connecting the lid part (1) and the container part (2) is provided.

These plate-like structures are made of stainless steel. When the microtube made of a resin material comes into contact with the lid (1), the resin-made lid (1) is slightly deformed by a pressing force to form a plate. It is configured to be firmly fixed by being sandwiched between structures.

By arranging the micro tube connector (3) in the groove (8), the lid (1) is fixed to the lid fixing part more firmly without resistance due to deformation of the resin. I have.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure in which the microtube is fixed to the microtube holder shown in FIG. The lid (1) of the microtube is fixed to the recess of the plate-like structure, and the container (2) of the microtube is fixed to the container fixing part. As a result, the microtube is fixed to the microtube holder with the lid opened very firmly.

FIG. 3 shows that the microtube holder of FIG. 2 is used as a container holder of a commercially available automatic liquid dispenser.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional configuration view of a dispensing mode when a preservation solution present in a microtube is dispensed by a dispensing pipette tip (6). Since the lid (1) is completely fixed and perpendicular to the liquid surface that constitutes it, that is, parallel to the pipette tip (6) which is the dispensing part for dispensing the liquid, the lid is dispensed at the time of dispensing. It can be seen that the operation is not disturbed.

For this reason, in the dispensing operation, for example, an instrument having a thin tip called a pipette tip (6) for dispensing can be directly inserted into the liquid surface of the microtube.

The holding table shown in FIG. 2 is used as a holding table for the container to be pipetted in the liquid pipetting apparatus.
When 10 microliters of the liquid was dispensed into the microtubes, the liquid could be dispensed to all the microtubes without any operational abnormality.

[0030]

Comparative Example A liquid was dispensed by the same method and apparatus as in the example except that the microtube holding table according to the present invention did not have the lid fixing portion (4). At this time, the lid is not fixed spatially but exists on the microtube container (2), and the pipette tip is caught on the lid during dispensing, so that accurate dispensing operation cannot be performed. Could not dispense.

[0031]

As is clear from the description of the above embodiment, according to the present invention, not only can the accurate dispensing be performed by fixing the lid (1) of the microtube, but also the liquid dispensing automatically. When the present microtube holding table is used in the dispensing apparatus, there is an extremely great advantage that the microtube can be used as a container to be dispensed in the liquid dispensing apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a microtube holder according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration sectional view of a microtube holding table according to an embodiment of the present invention when a microtube is fixed.

FIG. 3 is a configuration sectional view showing a liquid dispensing mode when a microtube is fixed to a microtube holding table according to an embodiment of the present invention and used as a dispensing container setting table of a liquid dispensing apparatus. .

[Brief description of reference numerals]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Microtube lid part 2 Microtube container part 3 Microtube connector part 4 Lid fixing part 5 Container fixing part 6 Pipette tip 7 Liquid 8 Groove part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A microtube holder for holding a microtube in which a container part (2) and a lid part (1) are integrally molded at a predetermined position in a space, and fixing the lid part of the microtube. A microtube holder having a lid fixing portion (3). 2. The microtube according to claim 1, wherein the lid fixing portion has a plate-like structure, and the lid portion of the microtube is fixed to an intermediate portion of the plate-like structure. Holder. 3. The microtube according to claim 2, wherein the lid fixing portion fixes the lid of the microtube vertically to the container portion of the microtube. Holder.