Beckman Coulter, Inc.

Creigh Thompson

David Sorrentino

Richard Wolf

Brian Kozicki

Laura Holmes

Robert Torney

Nicholas Hofmann

Vladimir Goldman

Steven Alseth

Jon Lindquist

Kevin Nowak

John Moyer

A gripper assembly () includes a cylinder (), a deformable gripping portion (), a piston (), and an ejector (). The gripper assembly is suitable for picking and placing a vessel () by gripping a gripped portion () of the vessel. The gripping portion extends from adjacent an end of the cylinder. The gripping portion has a spring-like property that allows deformation as the vessel is engaged thereby holding the vessel. The piston is slidably disposed inside the cylinder. The ejector includes a head portion () adjacent a first end of the ejector and a plunger portion () adjacent a second end of the ejector. The head portion of the ejector is slidably disposed inside the cylinder separately from the piston. The plunger of the ejector is partially disposed within the deformable gripping portion for engaging the vessel. The gripper assembly may be used to align an analyzer instrument ().

Methods and systems for picking and placing vessels and for aligning an instrument

Assays () may be performed with a luminometer () having a chassis () that may include a reaction vessel chamber (). The luminometer () may also include a light passage () that intersects the reaction vessel chamber (). The luminometer () may also include a cap () that, when in a closed configuration, prevents light emitted by external sources from entering the reaction vessel chamber () and from entering the light passage (). The cap () may provide access to the reaction vessel chamber () when in an open configuration. The luminometer () may also include a calibration light source () optically coupled to one end of the light passage () and a light detector () optically coupled to another end of the light passage (). The light detector () may include a sensing element for receiving light from the light passage ().

System for analog light measuring and photon counting in chemiluminescence measurements

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Chaska, MN, United States of America

Creigh Thompson