JPH1194747A - Biochip and biochip reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a biochip reader by which a circular biochip can be read out at low costs by a method wherein the circular biochip in which labeled DNA's or proteins are spotted in a circular arrangement is turned so as to be read out. SOLUTION: Spots 2 of labeled DNA's or proteins are arranged sequentially on a biochip 10 in units of tracks. The circular biochip 10 is turned by a motor 11, and it is read out while a point sensor 18 is driven to the center direction 19 of a circle. That is to say, a laser beam is oscillated by a semiconductor pumped solid-state laser 5, the laser beam is emitted toward the spots 2 by a dichroic mirror 13, a fluorescent substance with which the DNA's or the proteins in the spots 2 are labeled is excited, and fluorescent light is emitted. Then, the fluorescent light is condensed by a lens 12, light other than the fluorescent light is cut off by an optical interference filter 9, and the fluorescent light is narrowed down by a lens 15 so as to be detected by a photomultiplier tube 7. Thereby, a mechanism which deflects and scans a laser beam is not required, and the cost of a biochip reader is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for labeling DNA or protein used in general molecular biology with a fluorescent substance, exciting the fluorescent substance with a laser, and detecting the amount of DNA or protein by the amount of fluorescence emitted. The present invention relates to an inexpensive and feasible reading method. The biochip relates to a device in which DNAs and proteins are stored at a high density.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional biochip has a quadrangular shape, and FIG.
Spots as shown in the figure are planted. 2 is a spot, 17 is a fluorescently labeled DNA or protein, and 16 is a fluorescent substance. The reading of the biochip is, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 1 is a biochip, and 2 is a DNA in which a fluorescent substance is labeled on the biochip.
In order to read 1 biochip, a laser 5 is emitted, and a laser beam is moved along a horizontal axis by a mirror 6 to excite a fluorescent substance in a spot 2 to emit fluorescent light. With 8 optical fibers,
The objective wavelength was extracted by the optical filter 9 and detected by the photomultiplier 7, the biochip 1 was driven in the direction of the vertical axis of 4, the next line was read, and this was repeated to read the entire biochip. .

[0003]

However, in such a conventional method, a mechanism for driving a chip and a mechanism for a line sensor for reading by shaking a laser are required for reading a biochip. Had become.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to read at low cost by making a chip into a circular shape, reading by rotating a disk and reading by a point sensor.

[0005]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. The present invention is characterized in that 10 biochips are formed in a circular shape, rotated by 11 motors, and 18 point sensor units are driven in the direction of the center of 19 circles for reading.

[0006] Further, when reading light in which the inside of the spot 2 shines by chemiluminescence, reading is performed by turning off the laser 5 and reading can be performed by a fluorescent method or a chemiluminescent method.

[0007] According to such a system, the biochip can be read in a rotating manner, and since the sensor is also a point sensor, an apparatus can be realized at lower cost than a line sensor. If the biochip reader is inexpensive, it will be possible to easily carry out experiments using the biochip in each laboratory, which will help speed up research on gene elucidation.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 shows a spot structure, 2 is a spot, 17 is a labeled DNA or protein, and 16 is a fluorescent substance, TexasRed. FIG. 3 shows a biochip in which spots are sequentially arranged in track units.
10 is the whole chip. Glass is used as a chip material. FIG. 4 shows a biochip in which spots are arranged at the same angle, 2 is a spot, and 10 is the entire chip. FIG. 5 shows a biochip in which spots are arranged in a spiral, 2 is a spot, and 10 is a whole image. FIG.
4 and 5 are diagrams each showing an embodiment of a disc-shaped biochip.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a disk-shaped biochip, which is rotated by a motor 11. Reference numeral 18 denotes a point sensor unit. Reference numeral 5 denotes a semiconductor-excited solid-state laser that emits 532 nm laser light, 13 dichroic mirrors reflect only the wavelength of the laser light toward 2 spots, and 12 lenses transmit laser light. Squeeze 2
The spot is irradiated to excite a fluorescent substance labeled on DNA or protein in the spot to emit fluorescence. Numeral 12 converges the fluorescent light emitted by the lens into parallel light, passes through a dichroic mirror 13, cuts off light other than fluorescent light with an optical interference filter 9 that selectively transmits 625 nm, and narrows down with a lens 15. Light is injected into the photomultiplier to detect.

[0010] In the present invention, DNA is produced by chemiluminescence.
When the label of protein or protein is emitted, the laser of 5 is turned off, the optical interference filter of 14 is changed to an optical interference filter that selectively transmits the emission wavelength, and reading is performed. It has the feature that a chip can be read.

Further, by spotting and reading DNA or the like on both sides of the chip, it is possible to read efficiently with a small amount of sample.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, if a disk-shaped biochip is rotated and read, a conventional mechanism for shaking a laser beam and condensing it with an optical fiber to read it is unnecessary. A reading device can be realized at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conventional explanatory diagram.

FIG. 3 is a biochip in which spots are sequentially arranged in track units.

FIG. 4 is a biochip in which spots are arranged at the same angle.

FIG. 5 is a biochip in which spots are arranged in a spiral.

FIG. 6 shows a spot structure.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Square biochip, 2 ... Spot, 3 ... Scanning direction of laser light, 4 ... Drive direction of chip, 5 ... Laser, 6 ... Vibrating mirror, 7 ... Photomaru, 8 ... Condensing optical fiber, 9 optical filter, 10 circular biochip,
11: rotating motor, 12: condensing lens, 13: dichroic mirror, 15: condensing lens for photomaru, 16 ...
Fluorescent substance, 17: DNA or protein, 18: Point sensor section, 19: Drive direction of the point sensor section.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Jin Fujimiya 6-81 Ouecho, Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture In-house Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. 81 Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A biochip comprising probe DNAs and proteins spotted in a circular array. 2. A biochip reader characterized in that a circular biochip is rotated and read. 3. The biochip reader according to claim 2, wherein
A reading device comprising: means for labeling DNA or protein with a fluorescent substance, exciting by laser and reading; and means for reading DNA or protein by chemiluminescence.