A card reading
system in which
electrical contacts between the
assay card and the
card reader are made through vertical actuation of a card interface relative to the
assay card. In one embodiment, the
assay card reading
system comprises: (a) a
card reader comprising at least one card interface, the card interface having a plurality of card interface contacts; (b) an assay card having card contacts; (c) a vertical actuation mechanism for causing relative vertical movement between the assay card and the card interface to contact at least a portion of the card interface contacts with the card contacts.