JPWO2020159659A5

JPWO2020159659A5 -

Info

Publication number: JPWO2020159659A5
Application number: JP2021543452A
Authority: JP
Publication date: 2022-10-28

Claims

A multi-channel liquid handling device comprising:
an equipment enclosure comprising an equipment deck having a plurality of rails ;
a removable tray configured to hold one or more microplates, wherein the instrument deck holds the removable tray along with the one or more microplates; ,
A pipette head above the instrument deck, the pipette head having a camera for scanning the removable tray and/or the instrument deck, the pipette head holding one or more positive displacement pipette tips. a pipette head, said pipette head being a multi-channel pipette head integrated with a multi-position stage for manipulating said one or more positive displacement pipette tips;
a robotic instrument configured to control movement of the pipette head relative to the instrument deck, the removable tray, and the one or more microplates;
A controller configured to execute programmed instructions for a multi-channel liquid handling device.

3. The multi-channel liquid handling device of Claim 1, wherein the removable tray includes a handle.

3. The multi-channel liquid handling instrument of claim 1, further comprising a chip caddy overlying one of said one or more microplates.

3. The multi-channel liquid handling device of Claim 1, wherein the removable tray has a unique identification number configured to scan or read.

5. The liquid handling equipment of Claim 4, wherein the unique identification number is a two-dimensional barcode or radio frequency identification tag.

The pipette head is
a plurality of plates arranged in a stack for the four screw paths;
one or more motors for driving one or more respective timing belts, said motor or motors being supported by said plurality of plates;
3. The liquid handling apparatus of claim 1, comprising an upper heating mounting plate.

7. The liquid handling equipment of claim 6, wherein said plurality of plates are rectangular and said four threaded rods are arranged in a rectangular configuration relative to four corners of said plurality of plates.

7. A liquid handling device according to claim 6, wherein said plurality of plates is eight plates arranged sequentially from bottom to top along said four threaded rods.

A lower plate of the plurality of plates is fixed to the lower ends of the four threaded rods, an upper plate is fixed above the four threaded rods, and the remaining plates are paired between the upper and lower plates. 9. A liquid handling device according to claim 8 arranged and movable along said four threaded rods.

10. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 9, wherein the lower plate is a pipette tip collet holder plate to which one or more of the positive displacement pipette tips are attached.

10. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 9, further comprising one or more pipette tip gripping mechanisms.

one or more of the motors are gripping tip motors;
one or more of the timing belts are gripping tip timing belts;
12. Liquid handling equipment according to claim 11, wherein the gripping tip motor and the gripping tip timing belt are configured to move one or more of the plurality of plates away from or towards the bottom plate.

The one or more positive displacement pipette tips are
A pipette tip having a border and a pipette tip body, said border having an inner wall and a receptacle, said pipette tip body having a fluid channel along the length of said pipette tip body, said fluid a pipette tip, wherein the channel has an opening at the distal end of said fluidic channel;
A pipette plunger disposed along the inside of the pipette tip, the pipette plunger having a plunger tip having a plunger top, a plunger center and a distal tip, the receptacle comprising the plunger center. wherein the fluid channel is configured to receive a distal tip of the plunger tip, and the one or more pipette tip gripping mechanisms are zero insertion force pipette gripping mechanisms; 9. A liquid handling device according to claim 8, comprising:

one or more pipette plunger gripping mechanisms are provided in the central portion of the pipette head;
14. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 13, wherein each of the one or more pipette plunger mechanisms is associated with a respective plunger of a respective positive displacement pipette tip.

10. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 9, further comprising a set of zero insertion force pipette plunger gripping mechanisms, one of the one or more motors being used to control said set of zero insertion force pipette plunger mechanisms. .

one of the one or more motors is a gripping plunger motor;
one of the one or more timing belts is a gripping plunger timing belt;
16. Liquid handling equipment according to claim 15, wherein the gripping plunger motor and the gripping plunger timing belt are configured to move one or more of the plurality of plates away from or toward the bottom plate.

In addition, equipped with a pipette plunger,
10. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 9, wherein one or more of said motors are used to control said pipette plunger.

one of the one or more motors is a metering plunger motor;
one of the one or more timing belts is a metering plunger timing belt;
18. The liquid handling apparatus of claim 17, wherein the metering plunger motor and metering plunger timing belt are configured to move one or more of the plurality of plates away from or toward the bottom plate.

10. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 9, further comprising one or more pipette plunger gripping mechanisms that are zero insertion force pipette plunger gripping mechanisms.

each of the one or more zero insertion force pipette plunger gripping mechanisms includes a plunger collet and a pipette plunger locking mechanism;
20. The liquid handling instrument of claim 19, wherein the plunger collet includes a shaft portion and a collet chuck portion for fitting around the plunger top of the pipette plunger.

21. A liquid handling instrument according to claim 20, wherein the collet chuck portion is a segmented band or sleeve for fitting around the plunger top of the pipette plunger.

A method of aspirating and dispensing a liquid, comprising:
(a) providing,
the providing step provides a liquid handling device and a removable tray;
The liquid handling equipment comprises:
an equipment enclosure having an equipment deck;
a pipette head positioned on the instrument deck;
the removable tray has an ID;
the equipment deck holds the removable tray;
said pipette head has an arrangement of one or more positive displacement pipette tips for aspirating and dispensing liquid;
the pipette head includes a camera capable of scanning the ID;
the pipette head includes one or more pipette tip gripping mechanisms and one or more pipette plunger gripping mechanisms;
providing each of the one or more positive displacement pipette tips comprising a pipette tip, a pipette plunger corresponding to the pipette tip;
(b) scanning the ID with the camera to confirm availability of the one or more positive displacement pipette tips;
(c) gripping one or more pipette plungers by said one or more pipette plunger gripping mechanisms;
(d) gripping one or more available positive displacement pipette tips based on the scan;
(e) performing aspiration and/or dispensing operations with said pipette head.