Material or article handling – Movable rack having superposed – charge-supporting elements,... – Rotating or circulating rack
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-26
2003-08-12
Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Movable rack having superposed, charge-supporting elements,...
Rotating or circulating rack
C414S331150, C414S806000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06604902
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to the field of automation, and in particular to the use of automated equipment to transfer items. More specifically, the invention relates to the automated transfer of array cartridges into and out of an imaging apparatus.
1. Polymer Arrays
Methods for using arrays of polymers to identify receptors with specific affinities for one of the polymers in the array are known. For example, one method uses immobilized antibodies to analyze binding to peptide ligands or vice-versa. Another type of method uses immobilized oligonucleotides to analyze hybridization to a target nucleic acid. For instance, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/624,312, filed Mar. 26, 1996, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, describes apparatus and methods for carrying out repeated hybridizations of a target nucleic acid to an array of nucleic acid probes. Such polymer arrays are described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854 and published PCT Application Nos. WO90/15070 and WO92/10092, the complete disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. These polymer arrays are nucleic acid arrays which include a plurality of different polynucleotides coupled to a substrate in different known locations.
In one exemplary arrangement, such arrays are packaged within a housing or cartridge, like those described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,334, and in copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/624,312, previously incorporated by reference, 08/528,173, filed Sep. 19, 1995, and published PCT Application No. WO95/33846. As described at col. 4, lines 1-11 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,334, a probe is a surface-immobilized molecule that is recognized by a particular target and is sometimes referred to as a ligand. Examples of probes that can be investigated by this invention include, but are not restricted to, agonists and antagonists for cell membrane receptors, toxins and venoms, viral epitopes, hormones (e.g., opioid peptides, steroids, etc.), hormone receptors, peptides, enzymes, enzyme substrates, cofactors, drugs, lectins, sugars, oligonucleotides or nucleic acids, oligosaccharides, proteins, and monoclonal antibodies. The disclosures of all of these references are herein incorporated by reference. In brief, such a cartridge may be constructed of a body having a reaction cavity or hybridization chamber. The array or substrate is mounted over the cavity on the body such that the front side of the array substrate, e.g., the side upon which the polynucleotides are situated, is in fluid communication with the cavity. The cartridge includes inlet and outlet ports to allow various fluids to be introduced into and removed from the hybridization chamber.
2. Imaging
Imaging the polymer arrays may be accomplished, for example, by placing the cartridges into a scanning device, such as the GeneArray scanner, available from Affymetrix, Inc. Techniques for imaging polymer arrays are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,834,758 and 5,578,832, the complete disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
In many cases, it is desirable to maintain the cartridges in a temperature controlled environment. Hence, a need exists for equipment and techniques to transfer cartridges from a temperature controlled environment for placement into the scanner in an organized and efficient manner, and for the return of the cartridges to the temperature controlled environment following imaging. Hence, the invention is related to apparatus and methods to facilitate imaging of array cartridges in such a manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one embodiment, a device for transporting cartridges comprises a housing for holding a plurality of cartridges in a temperature controlled environment. The device further includes a transport system having a grasping mechanism to grasp one of the cartridges, to remove the cartridge from the housing and to place the cartridge into a scanner. In this way, each cartridge remains within a temperature controlled environment until ready for scanning. At such time, the transport system is employed to remove the cartridge from the housing and to place the removed cartridge into the scanner.
In one aspect, the device further includes a heating station for heating a cartridge (to prevent fogging) prior to insertion into the scanner. As such, the grasping mechanism may be configured to place the grasped cartridge at the heating station prior to placement into the scanner. In one specific aspect, the heating station may include a fan that is disposed to blow ambient air onto the cartridge to heat the cartridge.
In another aspect, the device may also include a holding station to hold a cartridge after being removed from the scanner. In this way, a cartridge that is removed from the scanner may be positioned near the scanner during a cycle where another cartridge is removed from the heating station and placed into the scanner. The cartridge that is held in the holding station may then be placed back into the housing. In this manner, the throughput of the device may be increased by reducing the amount of travel by the grasping system while the scanner is idle, i.e. awaiting a new cartridge.
Conveniently, a rack system may be rotatably disposed within the housing and may include a plurality of racks for holding the cartridges. In one aspect, a plurality of carriers may be provided, with each carrier holding multiple cartridges. In this way, a carrier of cartridges may conveniently be placed into the housing and coupled to the rack system simply by inserting the carrier into one of the racks. Conveniently, a belt may be coupled to the rack system, and a motor may be used to rotate the belt, thereby rotating the rack system. By rotating the rack system, one or more carriers may be aligned with an opening in the housing to facilitate removal of the cartridges. In a particular aspect, the carriers may each have a bottom end and an open top end, and a plurality of slots for receiving the cartridges in a parallel arrangement. When inserted into the slots, the cartridges extend above the top ends of the carriers to facilitate easy gasping and removal from the carriers. Further, the rack system may be configured to maintain the top ends of the carriers generally horizontal during rotation. In this way, the cartridges will not fall out of the carriers when rotated within the housing. Such a feature may be accomplished by use of belts that maintain alignment of the individual racks during rotation by the motor.
In another aspect, the device may include a barcode reader that is disposed within the housing. In this way, barcode labels on the cartridges may be read as they are removed from and/or placed into the housing. In one aspect, the grasping mechanism comprises a pair of fingers that are movable toward and away from each other to grasp and release the cartridges. In still another aspect, the transport system may comprise a horizontal lead screw and a first motor to rotate the horizontal lead screw. With such a configuration, the grasping mechanism may be coupled to the horizontal lead screw such that rotation of the lead screw translates the grasping mechanism horizontally. Further, a vertical lead screw may be provided along with a second motor to rotate the vertical lead screw. The grasping mechanism may be coupled to the vertical lead screw such that rotation of the lead screw translates the grasping mechanism vertically. A controller may then be employed to operate the motors and the grasping mechanism when transporting the cartridges. Conveniently, the housing may include a lid, and an electric motor may be used to open the lid, such as when receiving a signal from the controller. In this way, the housing may remain closed until a cartridge is removed from or placed into the housing. Alternatively, the lid may be slid open and closed by some interaction of the horizontal travelling system and the lid, i.e. the interaction could push the lid to the side.
The invention further provides an alignment mechanism for aligning a scanner w
Besemer Donald
Carlson Andrew B.
Lobban Peter
Norris Michael C.
Affymetrix Inc.
Fox Charles A.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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