KR20220066524A - Microplate dispenser auxiliary device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device which assists in dispensing a sample into a well at a precise location of a microplate, and more specifically, to a device which comprises: a bottom plate; a guide cover plate; and a fixing member so that the precise location of the well can be checked when manually dispensing the sample into a 96-well or 384-well microplate.

Description

Microplate dispenser auxiliary device

The present invention relates to a device for assisting in dispensing a sample into wells of a microplate, particularly when manually dispensing a sample into a 96-well or 384-well microplate. It relates to a device comprising a base plate, a guide cover plate and a fixing member to be possible.

Microplates (microplates, microtiter plates, microwell plates, or multiwell plates) are used in biology and biotechnology fields such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cell culture, bio-reaction, and sample storage. It is a widely used instrument for various tests and analysis of These plates typically consist of either 96 wells (8 x 12 arrays) or 384 wells (24 x 16 arrays). Microplates are designed to hold approximately 125 uL (for 96 well plates) or 30 uL (for 384 well plates) of solution per well. The microplate is usually made of a disposable plastic material, and although the material and shape may be slightly different depending on the manufacturer, it is composed of almost the same shape.

A microliter (ul) level of a very small amount of solution is dispensed into the microplate, and a micropipette is used for dispensing a small amount of sample. In addition to single-channel micropipettes that dispense one sample at a time, micropipettes can use multi-channel micropipettes (typically 8 or 12 channels) that can dispense multiple samples, such as 8 or 12, at a time. . A sample dispensing operation using a micropipette may be performed manually by a researcher or tester, or an automated dispensing device may be used. However, in a laboratory that does not have an automated dispensing device or a laboratory that conducts various tests, the tester does the dispensing manually in many cases. In addition, automated dispensing devices are more expensive than manual micropipettes, so there is a limit to using them exclusively for testers or researchers.

In addition, in the case of a biological test requiring various and complex tests, such as real-time PCR, it is often efficient and economical to perform multiple tests simultaneously and repeatedly. When performing such tests, it is preferable to use a multi-well plate, particularly a 384-well plate. However, when an 8-channel or 12-channel micropipette is used in a test using a 384-well plate, an error in the test often occurs when an abnormal sample injection occurs due to confusion of the well containing the sample. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to use an expensive automatic dispensing device, which causes an economic burden.

When using manual dispensing devices such as single-channel, 8-channel or 12-channel micropipettes, the well spacing between wells is very narrow (about 0.15 cm) and the well size is very small (about 0.3 cm diameter), which can cause confusion when dispensing. frequent

In particular, since the 8-channel or 12-channel micropipette has a structure optimized for a 96-well plate, simultaneous dispensing into adjacent wells is not possible when dispensing into a 384-well plate using the same. Therefore, when working with an 8-channel micropipette, dispense (dispense 1) to A, C, E, G, I, K, M, O wells, then B, D, F, H, J, L, N, Dispense to P (dispense 2) or, if working with a 12-channel micropipette, dispense to wells 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21 (dispense 1), It is possible to work in the order of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 wells (dispensing 2).

In this case, if the visibility of the work target well can be increased during the dispensing 1 operation, the dispensing operation can be smoothly performed and errors can be reduced, thereby greatly improving the reliability of the test data.

US Patent US 8372356 B2, "MANUALLY DIRECTED, MULTI-CHANNEL ELECTRONIC PIPETTING SYSTEM" (2013.02.12.) US Patent US 7597854 B1, "PIPETTE GUIDE" (2009.10.06.) US Patent US 7159740 B2 "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PARALLEL DISPENSING OF DEFINED VOLUMES OF SOLID PARTICLES" (2007.01.09.)

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above so that the operation can be performed more accurately when manual dispensing operation is performed with a multi-channel micropipette.

In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have a bottom plate for stably positioning a multi-well microplate, a guide cover plate positioned on top of the multi-well microplate, and a guide cover plate for guiding the position of the well, and the guide cover plate is a multi-well microplate. Invented a microplate dispensing auxiliary device including a fixing member for fixing so as to be in four different positions on the upper plate.

the present invention

a bottom plate having a bottom surface and a wall extending vertically from the bottom surface, and a bottom plate for locating the multi-well microplate therein;

a guide cover plate positioned on the top of the multi-well microplate positioned inside the bottom plate, and guiding the position of the well;

a fixing member for fixing the guide cover plate at four different positions on the multi-well microplate; and

It relates to a microplate dispensing auxiliary device extending vertically upward from the wall of the bottom plate, and comprising a guide cover plate guard formed so that the guide cover plate is positioned on the top of the micro plate.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the multi-well microplate is preferably a 96-well microplate or a 384-well microplate. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the same technical concept can be applied to more various multi-well microplates.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that when the microplate is positioned inside the bottom plate, a space is formed so that the microplate or the well does not come into contact with the inner side of the bottom surface of the bottom plate. This is to prevent contamination and errors in data when the bottom of the microplate or well touches the inside of the bottom of the bottom plate.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that a groove is formed in the wall of the bottom plate to facilitate the detachment of the microplate and the guide cover plate. If a groove is formed when inserting or removing the microplate and/or guide cover plate into or out of the base plate by hand, work can be performed more easily and stably.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the chin is formed inside the wall so that the outer circumferential surface of the microplate is stably positioned thereon on the inside of the base plate.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the hole corresponding to the well of the multi-well microplate is formed in the guide cover plate.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that 96 holes corresponding to the wells of the multi-well microplate are formed in the guide cover plate.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the 96 holes in the guide cover plate is formed in a 12 × 8 arrangement.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that 96 holes are formed in the guide cover plate to correspond to the wells in the diaphragm and interstitial rows in a 384-well microplate in a 24×16 arrangement in horizontal and vertical directions.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the guide cover plate is shorter than the inner dimension of the guide cover plate guard of the bottom plate by the spacing between the wells, preferably by 0.45 cm. As described above, the guide cover plate is formed as short as the distance between the wells of the 384-well plate, so that the solution or sample can be dispensed into the 384-well plate simply and accurately by moving the guide cover plate four times.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that by inserting the fixing member between the guide cover plate guard of the bottom plate and the guide cover plate, the guide cover plate is prevented from arbitrarily moving up, down, left and right, so that the sample can be dispensed at the correct location of the well. do it with

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the order of the holes in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction is displayed on the guide cover plate. For example, when 96 holes are formed, the numbers 1 to 12 and the alphabets A to H are displayed horizontally and vertically to facilitate the test.

The present invention makes it possible to accurately dispense a sample in a multi-well plate as a device including simple components.

The apparatus of the present invention is easy to maintain and manage because there is no frequent failure due to program errors.

In addition, the device of the present invention is very economical.

1 shows the components of a microplate dispensing auxiliary device according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a base plate, (B) is a guide cover plate A-type, (C) is a fixing member, and (D) is a state in which the bottom plate, guide cover plate and fixing member are attached.
Figure 2 shows the components of the microphone plate dispensing auxiliary device according to another embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a microplate mounted on the bottom plate, (B) is a guide cover plate B type, (C) is a state in which (B) and fixing members are attached to (A).
3 is a schematic diagram of a bottom plate according to an embodiment of the present invention. A guide cover plate guard (4) and a groove (5) for specifying the position of the guide cover plate to be placed, and a chin (7) of a certain height may be formed on the rim on the inside of the bottom plate. (A) is a plan view of the bottom plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, (B) is a side view of the bottom plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, (C) is a side cross-sectional view of the bottom plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, ( D) is a front view of the base plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, (E) is a front cross-sectional view of the base plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the unit of the number is cm.
4 is a schematic view of a guide cover plate A-type according to an embodiment of the present invention. The guide cover plate can be made smaller in width and length by the space between the wells of one microplate than the space of the bottom plate. In addition, the holes in the cover plate may be made similar to the size of the wells, configured to have holes corresponding to the wells next to the adjacent wells, and appropriate numbers and alphabets may be marked on the guide cover plate.
5 is a schematic view of a guide cover plate B type according to another embodiment of the present invention. The hole is removed from the guide cover plate type A, and only the outer well shape exists.
6 is a schematic diagram of a fixing member according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a top view, (B) is a side view, (C) is a front view. It is sandwiched between the guide cover plate and the bottom plate to form a size that can minimize the movement of the guide cover plate.
The unit of length in FIGS. 3 to 6 is cm, and the units shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 are based on a 384-well microplate currently used, and this unit should not be used as limiting the scope of the present invention. do.
7 is a diagram illustrating a method of using the microplate dispensing auxiliary device of the present invention. The PCR plate (384 well) is mounted on the bottom plate (①), the guide cover plate is mounted on it (②), and the guide cover plate is fixed with a fixing member (③). The method of dispensing appropriately by moving and installing the fixing member up, down, left and right (④ ~ ⑥) will be described.

A microplate dispensing auxiliary apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 . The microplate dispensing auxiliary device (FIG. 1 (D) or FIG. 2 (C)) includes a bottom plate [FIG. 1 (A) or FIG. 2 (A)] and a guide cover plate [FIG. 1 (B), FIG. 2(B), FIG. 4 or FIG. 5] and a fixing member [FIG. 1(C) and FIG. 6].

The bottom plate serves as a frame for stably positioning a multi-well microplate, preferably a 384-well plate, and the guide cover plate serves to increase well distinguishability and visibility during sample dispensing, and the fixing member is the guide cover plate. It serves to fix the position.

The base plate includes a guide cover plate guard (4) to hold the guide cover plate in position, and the base plate also includes a mounting auxiliary space (5) for easy mounting of the multi-well microplate and guide cover plate. can do. When placing the multi-well microplate on the bottom plate, a jaw 7 of a certain height can be formed on the inner edge of the bottom plate so that the wells at the bottom of the microplate do not touch the bottom of the bottom plate and a space 6 is formed between the well and the bottom plate. This serves to prevent problems such as adhesion of foreign substances to the bottom of the well during biological reactions including PCR reactions.

The guide cover plate may be formed in various forms, and preferably may be formed in the form of the guide cover plate A or the guide cover plate B of the form shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, but is not limited thereto. The guide cover plate type A (Fig. 4) was made smaller than the inner dimension of the bottom plate (the distance from the guide cover plate guard to the opposite guard) by 0.45 cm in width and length (the same value as the spacing between adjacent wells of a 384-well plate) It is a thin plate (preferably about 0.2 cm thick). That is, the size of the guide cover plate is made smaller (eg, 10.15 x 14.35 cm) by the interval between adjacent wells than the base plate (eg, 10.6 x 14.8 cm).

The guide cover plate for the 384 well microplate is formed to have 96 (8 x 12) holes (8) with a diameter (about 0.4 cm) slightly larger than the well (about 0.3 cm diameter) of the 384 well microplate. The spacing between the holes is about 0.5 cm, considering the spacing between the centers of adjacent wells of about 0.45 cm in a typical 384-well microplate. When viewed, one well adjacent in the transverse and longitudinal directions is skipped to form a hole and a well exactly coincident. On the left side of the hole in the guide cover plate, write the letters A to H in the vertical direction, and at the top, the numbers 1 to 12 in the horizontal direction, so that the position of the hole can be accurately known. The edges of the guide cover plate can be cut into a round or angled shape to mark the top and bottom, left and right, and also to attach a shape so that it can be easily grasped by hand.

Another type of guide cover plate B type (FIG. 5) is a form in which the partition wall between the holes is removed from the guide cover plate A type, and a hole at the edge is left or a part is removed to leave the shape of the hole, thereby dispensing the sample with a micropipette It has a feature of making it easy to distinguish the position and line of the well when doing this, and also makes it possible to distinguish well the well formed on the microplate located under the guide cover plate.

The fixing member (FIG. 6) is for preventing the movement of the guide cover plate when the guide cover plate is mounted on the bottom plate. Insert it into the gap of about 0.45 cm between the guide cover plate and the guide cover plate guard (4) of the bottom plate so that the guide cover plate does not move left and right and/or up and down so that it can be dispensed accurately into the multi-well. The size is about 0.4 cm thick and has a structure bent at a right angle, and the height and width of the fixing member can be formed at an appropriate level (about 1 cm or less) that does not interfere with the test using the microplate.

Each accessory of the microplate dispensing auxiliary device of the present invention can be made of a metal or plastic material, and it is preferable to make it of a metal material that is not easily bent and is resistant to biological materials and acids, alkalis, and the like. Metal materials such as aluminum and copper with good thermal conductivity. Iron, zinc, etc. or an alloy thereof is preferred, but not limited thereto.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in more detail through examples of use of the microplate dispensing auxiliary device of the present invention. It is apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the following description is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

<Example of use>

A method of using the microplate dispensing auxiliary device of the present invention using a 384-well microplate is described as follows (FIG. 7). Put the 384-well microplate on the bottom plate as shown in ① of FIG. 7, put the guide cover plate on the microplate, and attach the guide cover plate to the upper left guide cover plate guard 4 of the bottom plate as closely as possible. After close contact, insert the fixing member into the lower right corner of the bottom plate with a gap to fix the guide cover plate. The solution is taken with an 8-channel or 12-channel micropipette and dispensed sequentially (②, ③ in FIG. 7). According to the need for dispensing operation, the dispensing operation can be performed by closely attaching the guide cover plate to the upper right guide cover plate guard (4) of the base plate in turn, and fixing the fixing member at the lower left side of the base plate, and also, the lower right lower part of the base plate Attach the guide cover plate closely to the guide cover plate guard (4), fix the fixing member on the upper left side of the base plate, and work by dispensing. The dispensing operation is performed by fixing the fixing member to the (④,⑤,⑥ in FIG. 7). Through this, a sample can be appropriately dispensed into 384 wells.

For example, in the PCR reaction, the reaction solution is injected into 384 wells from left to right by repeatedly moving the fixing member to 4 positions as shown in Figure 7 with an 8-channel micropipette for proper reaction of the reaction solution and the sample sample, It is possible to inject the specimen into the 384 well from top to bottom while moving the fixing member to four positions as shown in FIG. 7 with a 12-channel micropipette.

Through this, various biological reactions including PCR can be performed by accurately dispensing various small amounts of solutions and/or samples into multi-well plates, including 384-well plates, easily without an expensive automated dispensing device.

1: bottom plate,
2: guide cover plate,
3: fixing member;
4: guide cover plate guard,
5: groove;
6: space,
7: chin,
8: hole.

Claims (12)

a bottom plate including a bottom surface and a wall extending vertically from the bottom surface, the bottom plate placing the multi-well microplate therein;
a guide cover plate positioned on top of the multi-well microplate positioned inside the bottom plate, and guiding the position of the well;
a fixing member for fixing the guide cover plate at four different positions on the multi-well microplate; and
A microplate dispensing auxiliary device extending vertically upward from the wall of the bottom plate and including a guide cover plate guard formed so that the guide cover plate is positioned on the top of the micro plate.
The method according to claim 1,
The multi-well microplate is a microplate dispensing aid, characterized in that it is a 96-well microplate or a 384-well microplate.
The method according to claim 1,
The microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that the space is formed so that the well of the microplate does not come into contact with the inner side of the bottom surface of the bottom plate when the microplate is positioned therein.
The method according to claim 1,
A microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that grooves are formed in the wall of the bottom plate to facilitate detachment of the microplate and the guide cover plate.
The method according to claim 1,
A microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that the chin is formed inside the wall so that the outer circumferential surface of the microplate is stably positioned thereon in the bottom plate.
The method according to claim 1,
Microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that the hole corresponding to the well of the multi-well microplate is formed in the guide cover plate.
The method according to claim 1,
The microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that 96 holes corresponding to the wells of the multi-well microplate are formed in the guide cover plate.
8. The method of claim 7,
A microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that the guide cover plate has 96 holes arranged in a 12 × 8 arrangement.
The method according to claim 1,
The microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that 96 holes are formed in the guide cover plate to correspond to the wells in the diaphragm and diaphragm by crossing one row at a time in the horizontal and vertical directions in a 384-well microplate in a 24 × 16 array.
The method according to claim 1,
The guide cover plate is a microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that shorter than the inner dimension of the guide cover plate guard of the bottom plate by the distance between each well horizontally and vertically.
The method according to claim 1,
The fixing member is a microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that used between the guide cover plate guard and the guide cover plate of the bottom plate.
The method according to claim 1,
Microplate dispensing auxiliary device, characterized in that the order of the holes in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction is displayed on the guide cover plate.

Images