Apparatus and method for simultaneously conducting multiple chemical reactions

Abstract

A method, apparatus and kit forms a plurality of closed reaction chambers to simultaneously conduct multiple chemical reactions. The apparatus includes a plate of wells and an array of sets of bound chemical reactants. A well has a deformable closed end and an open end opposite the closed end. When assembled together, the array covers open ends of the wells in the plate to form a reaction assembly having a plurality of closed cells that is one or more of gas, liquid and / or fluid tight. The deformable closed end of the well is flexible such that a test sample is displaced toward a set of chemical reactants in a closed cell for mixing. The array may include spatially arranged prongs distally extending from a support with the sets of chemical reactants bound to distal ends of prongs.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 938,909, filed Aug. 24, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.[0002] 1. Technical Field[0003] This invention relates to simultaneously reacting multiple chemical samples using arrays. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of conducting multiple chemical reactions or assays simultaneously using microarray technology for diagnostic, therapeutic and analytical applications.[0004] 2. Description of Related Art[0005] Devices for processing multiple biological assays are known and typically comprise reaction vessels having a plurality of reaction wells, each well has sidewalls and a closed end or bottom and an array of chemical samples fixed to the closed end. The end opposite to the closed end is open to access the reaction well for performing the assays with the array. Conventional microtiter plates are examples of conventio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0029] Gas tight, liquid tight, and fluid tight seals--To be useful, a seal should be one or more of gas tight, liquid tight, and fluid tight against the flow of the particular substances to be contained by the seal. If gas tight against the flow of a particular gas, a seal will typically be tight also against the flow of liquids and powders. If liquid tight against the flow of a particular liquid, a seal may permit the flow of most gases. If fluid tight against the flow of a particular powder, a seal may permit the flow of most liquids and gases. However, a fluid tight seal can, at the extreme, be tight against the flow of all fluids including gases and liquids.

[0040] The target material usually contains from about 20 to 5,000 or more nucleotides, preferably 30 to 1,000 nucleotides. The target material is generally a fraction of a larger molecule or it may be substantially the entire molecule such as a polynucleotide as described above. The minimum number of nucleotides in the target material is selected to assure that the presence of a target polynucleotide in a sample is a specific indicator of the presence of polynucleotide in a sample. The maximum number of nucleotides in the target material is normally governed by several factors: the length of the polynucleotide from which it is derived, the tendency of such polynucleotide to be broken by shearing or other processes during isolation, the efficiency of any procedures required to prepare the sample for analysis (e.g. transcription of a DNA template into RNA) and the efficiency of detection and / or amplification of the target nucleotide sequence, where appropriate.

Problems solved by technology

The special handling and processing equipment is expensive and not conducive to increased throughput, without added expense.

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