Multi-well platforms, caddies, lids and combinations thereof

Details Multi-well platforms, caddies, lids and combinations thereof Multi-well platforms, caddies, lids and combinations thereof

1998-07-07

2002-07-30

Warden, Jill (Department: 1743)

Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser

Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition

C422S091000, C435S288300, C435S288400

Reexamination Certificate

active

06426050

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to multi-well platforms, lids, caddies and any combination thereof that are generally described in U.S. Patent Application No. 09/030,578, filed Feb. 24, 1998 (the '578 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 09/028,283, filed Feb. 24, 1998 (the '283 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 08/858,016, filed May 16, 1997 (the '016 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 08/867,567, filed Jun. 2, 1997 (the '567 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 08/868,018, filed Jun. 3, 1997 (the '018 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 08/867,584, filed Jun. 2, 1997 (the '584 application), and U.S. Patent Application No. 08/868,049, filed Jun. 3, 1997 (the '049 application); each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Designs for the multi-well platforms, lids, and caddies of the present invention have been set forth in the '578 application, the '283 application, the '567 application, the '018 application, the '584 application, and the '049 application. Designs for the multi-well platform have also been described in U.S. Patent Application No. 29/081,749, filed Jan. 7, 1998 (the '749 application), U.S. Patent Application No. 29/081,969, filed Jan. 12, 1998 (the '969 application) and U.S. Patent Application No. 29/081,976, filed Jan. 12, 1998 (the '976 application), each of which is incorporated herein by reference. The multi well platforms, lids, caddies and combinations described herein can be used in any of the methods or other aspects of the inventions described in the '578 application, the '283 application, the '016 application, the '567 application, the '018 application, the '584 application, or the '049 application.
Multi-Well Platforms
The multi-well platforms of the present invention are well suited for use in fluorescent based assays, but can be used for any appropriate purpose. These multi-well platforms comprise a frame, wherein said wells are disposed in said frame. The frame can be of any thickness, such as between about 0.5, 1, 2, 3, or 5 millimeters and 2, 3, 5, 10 or 20 millimeters. The frame can be made of any material, such as polymers, such as polystyrene or cycloolefins, or other materials, such as glass or quartz. The frame can be of any shape, and typically defines the footprint of the multi-well platform.
The bottom of the frame can be substantially flat, meaning in this instance that the bottom of the frame does not have additional structures, such as means to form a band of opaque material in the bottom when the frame and bottom are sealed together (see, U.S. Patent Ser. No. 5,319,436 (Mann et al.)). Such bands of opaque material are preferred when the wall is chamfered, however, the present invention is useful with or without such bands of opaque material. The bottom of the frame can also include structures such as pins, grooves, flanges or other known structures or those developed in the future to orient the multi-well platform on another structure, such as a detector or another platform.
The multi-well platform can have a footprint of any shape or size, such as square, rectangular, circular, oblong, triangular, kidney, or other geometric or non-geometric shape.
The footprint can have a shape that is substantially similar to the footprint of existing multiwell platforms, such as the standard 96-well microtiter plate, whose footprint is approximately 85.5 mm in width by 127.75 mm in length or other sizes that represent a current or future industry standard (see T. Astle, Standards in Robotics and Instrumentation, J. of Biomolecular Screening, Vol. 1 pages
163-168
(1996)). Multi-well platforms of the present invention having this footprint can be compatible with robotics and instrumentation, such as multi-well platform translocators and readers as they are known in the art.
Each well comprises a wall having less fluorescence than polystyrene wall of 100 to 70% of the wall's thickness, preferably at least 90 percent of the wall's thickness. These determinations can be made using fluorescent detection methods well known in the art, such as determining the fluorescence of appropriate sheets of the materials being compared or as described herein.
Typically, wells will be arranged in two-dimensional linear arrays on the multi-well platform. However, the wells can be provided in any type of array, such as geometric or nongeometric arrays. The number of wells can be no more than 864 wells, or greater than 864 wells, on a standard multi-well platform footprint. Larger numbers of wells or increased well density can also be easily accomplished using the methods of the claimed invention. Other commonly used number of wells include 1536, 3456, and 9600. The number of wells can be between about 50, 100, 200, 500, 700, 800 or 1000 wells and 150, 250, 600, 800,1000, 2000, 4000 5000, or 10000 wells. Preferably, the number of wells can be between about 50 and 10000, more preferable between about 800 and 5000, and most preferably between about 900 and 4000. The number of wells can be a multiple of 96 within these ranges, preferably the square of an integer multiplied by 96.
Well volumes typically can vary depending on well depth and cross sectional area. Well volumes can range between about 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 or 200 microliter and about 5, 15, 40, 80, 100, 200, 500, or 1000 microliters. Preferably, the well volume is between about 500 nanoliters and 500 microliters, more preferably between about 1 microliter and 200 microliter, and most preferably between about 0.5 microliters and 10 microliters.
Wells can be made in any cross sectional shape (in plan view) including, square, round, hexagonal, other geometric or non-geometric shapes, and combinations (intra-well and interwell) thereof Wells can be made in any cross sectional shape (in vertical view) including shear vertical or chamfered walls, wells with flat or round bottoms, conical walls with flat or round bottoms, and curved vertical walls with flat or round bottoms, and combinations thereof.
As shown in
FIG. 135A
, the walls can be chamfered (e.g. having a draft angle) 14. Chamfered walls can have an angle between about 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 degrees and about 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, or 20 degrees. Preferably, the angle is between about 1 and 10 degrees, more preferably between about 2 and 8 degrees, and most preferable between about 3 and 5 degrees.
As shown in
FIG. 135
, the wells can be placed in a configuration so that the well center-to well-center distance
12
can be between about 0.5, 1, 2, 5, or 10 millimeters and about 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 millimeters. The wells can be placed in any configuration, such as a linear-linear array, or geometric patterns, such as hexoginal patterns. The well-towell distance can be about 9 mm divided by an integer between 1 and 10. Typically, the multiwell plate has wells with a well-center-to-well-center distance of less than about 2.5 mm, preferably less than 2 mm and some times less than about 1 mm. Smaller well-center to well-center distances are preferred for smaller volumes.
The wells can have a depth between about 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, or 50 millimeters and about 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 millimeters. Preferably, the well depth is between about 1 millimeter and 100 millimeters, more preferably between about 2 millimeters and 50 millimeters, and most preferably between about 3 millimeters and 20 millimeters.
The wells can have a diameter (when the wells are circular) or maximal diagonal distance (when the wells are not circular) between about 0.2, 0.5, 0.7, 1, 5, 10, or 50 millimeters and about 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 millimeters. Preferably, the well diameter is between about 0.5 and 100 millimeters, more preferably between about 1 and 50 millimeters, and most preferably, between about 2 and 20 millimeters.
The wells of the multi-well platform can comprise an optically opaque material that can interfere with the transmission of radiation, such as light,

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