KR200495832Y1 - Optic module for PCR apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical module of a PCR device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical module of a PCR apparatus that optimizes detection efficiency and accuracy by arranging a plurality of wells in a circle and performing light irradiation and detection while rotating an optical system.

Description

Optical module for PCR apparatus

The present invention relates to a PCR apparatus, and more particularly, to an optical module of a PCR apparatus capable of optimizing detection efficiency and accuracy in performing light irradiation and detection for a plurality of wells.

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is a method of amplifying a specific target genetic material to be detected. By repeatedly heating and cooling a sample containing a nucleic acid, a region having a specific nucleotide sequence of the nucleic acid is replicated in a chain. This is a technique for exponentially amplifying nucleic acids having a specific nucleotide sequence region. PCR may be performed in a series of thermoenzymatic reaction steps such as denaturation, annealing, and extension. Briefly, in the denaturation step, two strands of DNA are separated by heating, and each DNA serves as a template. In the binding step, primers are bound to the template DNA. At this time, the accuracy of the reaction can be improved by adjusting the temperature appropriately. In the elongation phase, heat-resistant DNA polymerase creates new DNA from the template DNA. If the polymerase chain reaction is performed once, the genetic material is amplified twice. Therefore, if the polymerase chain reaction is repeated n times, in theory, the gene of 2 to n times the gene can be amplified, exponentially by repeating the reaction. phosphorus amplification is possible.

A PCR device is a device made for the purpose of allowing a PCR reaction to occur more efficiently with respect to a large amount of sample. As can be intuitively seen from the above description, since temperature control is a key and important part in the PCR reaction, the PCR device is generally equipped with a heating device and a cooling device for controlling the temperature of the sample. In addition, in order to obtain a large amount of and, if necessary, a variety of results with one PCR device, a PCR device is generally provided with a plurality of wells, and a tube containing a sample in the plurality of wells is provided, respectively. In the accommodated state, the temperature control of the sample is performed using the heating device and the cooling device described above. The basic configuration of such a PCR device is well disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 2071058 ("A device and method for automated extraction and delivery of nucleic acids for gene amplification," 2020.01.21., hereinafter 'prior literature').

Referring to the prior literature, one optical system for light irradiation and detection per well is provided so as to perform light irradiation and detection in all tubes at once. However, in this way, the number of optical systems is excessively increased, and not only the manufacturing cost is excessively increased, but also there is a problem in that the distance between the optical systems cannot be sufficiently widened, so that the signal interference is greatly generated, thereby lowering the detection accuracy.

Therefore, in general, in many conventional PCR devices, unlike the prior literature, a smaller number of optical systems than the tube are provided and configured to perform light irradiation and detection while moving them. At this time, many conventional PCR devices use a method of arranging tubes in two dimensions and performing light irradiation and detection while advancing the optical system in the horizontal and vertical directions. However, in this case, the optical system must stop in order to irradiate or detect light from one tube, and the optical system must proceed to perform light irradiation and detection in the next tube. will do In this process, the optical system may be subjected to unnecessary shocks by inertia, and there is a risk of increased dynamic instability because the actuator of the moving device has to repeatedly stop and proceed.

1. Korean Patent Registration No. 2071058 ("A device and method for automated extraction and delivery of nucleic acids for gene amplification", 2020.01.21.)

Therefore, the present invention has been devised to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to arrange a plurality of wells in a circle and perform light irradiation and detection while rotating an optical system, thereby detecting efficiency and accuracy It is to provide an optical module of a PCR device that optimizes.

The optical module 130 of the PCR device 100 of the present invention for achieving the above object generates a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) reaction by heating and cooling the sample accommodated in the tube 200, and the sample In the optical module 130 provided in the PCR apparatus 100 for detecting the target material in the sample using the fluorescence generated by irradiating the excitation light to the An arrangement provided on the fixing plate 132 and comprising a plurality of optical systems 132 arranged and individually performing light irradiation and detection, the optical system being provided on the upper surface of the arrangement to support the upper surface of the arrangement The first optical control substrate 133 for controlling the light irradiation and detection operation of 132, is provided laminated on the upper surface of the first optical control substrate 133 to match the light irradiation and detection operation of the optical system 132. It may include a second optical control board 134 for controlling a link operation with the motor 140 .

At this time, the optical module 130 may be formed to be rotated by the motor 140 so that light irradiation and detection are performed on the sample accommodated in each of the tubes 200 at a predetermined cycle.

In addition, the optical module 130 may be formed such that a hole is formed in the center so that the motor 140 is disposed in the center hole of the optical module 130 .

Also, the motor 140 may adjust the rotation speed of the motor 140 according to a desired signal sampling rate.

According to the present invention, by providing an optical module capable of more efficiently detecting the fluorescence signal generated in the plurality of wells, there is also an effect of greatly improving the fluorescence signal detection efficiency and accuracy. More specifically, in the present invention, the wells are arranged in a circular shape, and the process of irradiating excitation light to a sample in a tube provided in a plurality of wells with an optical module and detecting fluorescence is performed together with a rotation operation. Accordingly, the detection of the fluorescence signal in the plurality of wells can be performed more efficiently, and the detection accuracy can be improved by adjusting the rotation speed of the optical module.

1 is an external perspective view when the PCR device of the present invention is closed.
Figure 2 is an external perspective view when the PCR device of the present invention is opened.
Figure 3 is an external side view and a cross-sectional side view of the PCR device of the present invention.
Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the optical module of the PCR device of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the optical module of the PCR device according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 are external perspective views when the PCR device of the present invention is closed and opened, and FIG. 3 is an external side view and a cross-sectional side view of the PCR device of the present invention. The PCR apparatus 100 of the present invention basically generates a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) reaction by heating and cooling the sample accommodated in the tube 200, and uses the fluorescence generated by irradiating the sample with excitation light. Detect my target substance. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 , the PCR device 100 of the present invention consists of an upper body 110 and a lower body 120 , and an optical module 130 and an optical module 130 on the upper body 110 . A motor 140 is accommodated to perform light irradiation and detection, and a plurality of the tubes 200 are arranged in a circle at the upper end of the lower body 120 , and a heater module and a cooling fan are provided in the lower body 120 . It is equipped with a housing to perform heating and cooling.

At this time, in the present invention, the efficiency and accuracy of sample detection are improved by allowing the optical module 130 to perform light irradiation and detection while rotating by the motor 140 . Hereinafter, each part will be described in more detail.

The optical module 130 includes a plurality of optical systems 132 that are radially arranged at equal intervals and individually perform light irradiation and detection, respectively, for light irradiation and detection of the sample accommodated in the tube 200 . carry out 4 is an exploded perspective view of the optical module of the PCR device of the present invention, and the detailed configuration of the optical module 130 will be described with reference to FIG.

The optical module 130 includes an arrangement provided on the fixing plate 132, which is composed of a fixing plate 131 basically formed in a circular shape and a plurality of the optical systems 132 . At this time, as described above, the optical systems 132 are appropriately spaced apart from each other at equal radial intervals in a circle to prevent cross-talk between each other. The optical system 132 includes a light source for irradiating excitation light and a detection means for detecting fluorescence, respectively, so that light irradiation and detection can be performed individually.

The optical module 130 is also provided on the upper surface of the arrangement to support the upper surface of the arrangement, while controlling the light irradiation and detection operation of the optical system 132 and the first optical control board 133 and the first A second optical control board 134 is provided stacked on the upper surface of the optical control board 133 to control a link operation with the motor 140 in accordance with the light irradiation and detection operation of the optical system 132 . Accordingly, structurally, the optical module 130 has a lower surface supported by the fixing plate 131 and an upper surface of the array including the plurality of optical systems 132 arranged in a circle, and the upper surface is the first and second optical control substrates ( 133 and 134 to form a stable structure.

On the other hand, when the upper body 110 is provided with a hot top heater substrate for performing auxiliary heating, there is a fear that unnecessary heat is applied to the optical module 130 . In order to prevent this problem, the fixing plate 131 is preferably made of an insulating material capable of blocking heat.

The motor 150 serves to rotate the optical module 130 so that light irradiation and detection are performed on the sample accommodated in each of the tubes 200 at a predetermined cycle. That is, while the motor 140 rotates the optical module 130 at a predetermined rotation speed, the optical system 132 performs light irradiation and detection on the sample accommodated in the tube 200 . The rotation speed of the motor 140 is adjusted according to a signal sampling rate.

As well shown in the drawings, the PCR apparatus 100 of the present invention performs sample detection for the samples accommodated in the plurality of tubes 200 . As described above, in the present invention, by providing a smaller number of the optical systems 132 than the tube 200, the distance between the optical systems 132 is sufficiently widened to fundamentally solve the signal interference problem. In addition, in the present invention, the optical module 130 is formed to be rotated by the motor 140, and as the optical system 132 rotates, light irradiation and detection are performed while passing the position of the tube 200. do. At this time, if the arrangement structure of the optical system 132 and the tube 200 and the rotation speed of the motor 140 are all known, at which point the optical system 132 is located in which tube 200, etc. Since it can be easily identified, it is possible to smoothly obtain a target material detection signal by only appropriately processing the signal. That is, in the present invention, by making the light irradiation and detection operation / progress operation to the next tube position be made continuously, the shock or dynamic instability of the optical system or the movement device actuator caused by the discontinuous operation in the conventional PCR device as described above can be greatly reduced.

With reference to the configuration of the optical module 130 and the motor 140 described above, a sample detection method using the optical module of the PCR device of the present invention will be described in stages as follows. The sample detection method using the optical module of the PCR apparatus largely includes a module rotation step, a light irradiation step, and a photodetection step.

In the module rotation step, the motor 140 rotates the optical module 130 at a predetermined rotation speed. In this case, the rotation speed may be appropriately determined according to a desired signal sampling rate as described above. The time for the optical system 132 to pass the sample accommodated in each tube 200 varies according to the rotation speed of the motor 140 , but the sampling rate is the same. It is possible to obtain a signal with a high granularity. Therefore, it is possible to detect a fluorescence signal more accurately than when the rotation speed is high. However, if the rotation speed is too slow, the detection efficiency may be reduced. Therefore, it is sufficient to determine the appropriate optimal rotation speed while considering both the detection efficiency and the detection accuracy.

In the light irradiation step, the optical system 132 irradiates the excitation light to the sample accommodated in the tube 200 . When the sample is irradiated with excitation light, electrons are excited, the excited state is maintained for a certain period of time, and then a fluorescence photon is generated as it transitions to the ground state.

In the photodetection step, the optical system 132 detects a target material in the sample using fluorescence generated from the sample accommodated in the tube 200 .

At this time, the light irradiation step and the light detection step are performed in a state in which the optical system 132 is continuously rotating. Therefore, the optical system 132 irradiating light to any one tube 200 may not necessarily detect fluorescence generated in the same tube 200 . However, as described above, if the arrangement structure of the optical system 132 and the tube 200 and the rotational speed of the motor 140 are all known, the optical system 132 is located in which tube 200 at a certain point in time. Since it is easy to understand whether the excitation light is irradiated to which tube 200 at any point in time through appropriate signal processing, and how much time elapses after that, the relationship such as whether the tube 200 emits fluorescence, etc. Since it can be easily grasped, the optical system 132 for irradiating light with respect to any one tube 200 and the optical system 132 for detecting light are not necessarily the same.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the scope of application is varied, and anyone with ordinary knowledge in the field to which the present invention belongs without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims It goes without saying that various modifications are possible.

100: PCR device
110: upper body 120: lower body
130: optical module
131: fixed plate 132: optical system
133: first optical control board 134: second optical control board
140: motor
200: tube

Claims (4)

A PCR apparatus 100 that generates a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reaction by heating and cooling a sample accommodated in the tube 200, and detects a target material in the sample using fluorescence generated by irradiating the sample with excitation light (100) In the optical module 130 provided in,
Fixed plate 131 formed in a circular shape,
An arrangement provided on the fixing plate 131, which is radially arranged at equal intervals in a circle and consists of a plurality of optical systems 132 that individually perform light irradiation and detection, respectively;
a first optical control board 133 provided on the upper surface of the arrangement to control the light irradiation and detection operation of the optical system 132 while supporting the upper surface of the arrangement;
A second optical control board 134 is provided laminated on the upper surface of the first optical control board 133 to control a link operation with the motor 140 in accordance with the light irradiation and detection operation of the optical system 132 .
includes,
A connection terminal is formed on the second optical control board 134 at a position corresponding to each of the plurality of optical systems 132, and the plurality of optical systems ( 132) a hole is formed at a position corresponding to each,
The connection terminal formed on the upper end of the optical system 132 is connected to the connection terminal on the second optical control substrate 134 , and the upper portion of the optical system 132 is inserted into the through hole on the first optical control substrate 133 . It is fixed, and the lower portion of the optical system 132 is fitted and fixed in the hole on the fixing plate 131,
The optical system 132 is formed such that the position is fixed by the second optical control substrate 134, the first optical control substrate 133, and the fixing plate 131,
The optical module 130 is formed to be rotated by the motor 140 so as to perform light irradiation and detection with respect to the sample accommodated in each of the tubes 200 at a predetermined cycle,
A through hole is formed in the center of the second optical control substrate 134 , the first optical control substrate 133 , and the fixing plate 131 , so that the motor 140 operates the second optical control substrate 134 and the first optical control substrate 134 . An optical module of a PCR device, characterized in that it is formed to be accommodated in the through hole formed in the center of the stack of the optical control board (133), the fixing plate (131).
delete delete According to claim 1, wherein the motor 140,
The optical module of the PCR device, characterized in that the rotation speed of the motor 140 is adjusted according to a desired signal segmentation rate (sampling rate).

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