Life Technologies Corporation

Mark Beauchemin

Todd Rearick

Melville Davey

Simon Cawley

Charles Sugnet

Iztok Marjanovic

Shanti Shankar

Mohit Gupta

Earl A Hubbell

Sean Zimmerman

Chiu Tai Andrew Wong

Kylan Szeto

John Thompson

A method for user guided initiating of an instrument includes receiving a run plan via a user interface of the instrument; indicating on the user interface, based on the run plan, a consumable to be provided to the instrument; detecting the presence of the consumable using a vision system; and indicating the presence of the consumable via the user interface.

System and method for automated reagent verification

A method for sequencing a target polynucleotide includes detecting a first series of nucleotide incorporations complementary to at least a portion of the target polynucleotide. The first series of nucleotide incorporations forms a first complementary polynucleotide. The target nucleotide is secured to a substrate disposed in a sequencing zone of an assembly. The method further includes moving the substrate to which the target nucleotide is secured to a templating zone of the assembly; removing the first complementary polynucleotide when the substrate is disposed at the templating zone of the assembly, the target polynucleotide remaining secured to the substrate; following the removing, moving the substrate to which the target polynucleotide is secured to the sequencing zone; and detecting a second series of nucleotide incorporations complementary to at least a portion of the target polynucleotide, the second series of nucleotide incorporations forming a second complementary polynucleotide.

System and method for automated repeat sequencing

A method, computer program product, and system are provided to calibrate a sensor array with a plurality of sensors. The method can include sweeping a voltage of a reference electrode from a first voltage to a second voltage, where the reference electrode is in fluid communication with the sensor array. The output voltage of each of the plurality of sensors can be monitored at one or more voltages within the first and second voltages. An overall average gain of the plurality of sensors can be calculated at each of the one or more voltages. Further, an acquisition window for the sensor array can be determined. The acquisition window can include a maximum distribution of sensors that provides a maximal overall average gain at a particular reference electrode voltage.

Methods and apparatus for measuring analytes

In one implementation, a method for operating an apparatus is described. The method includes applying a bias voltage to place a transistor of a reference sensor in a known state, the reference sensor in an array of sensors that further includes a chemical sensor coupled to a reaction region for receiving at least one reactant. The method further includes acquiring an output signal from the reference sensor in response to the applied bias voltage, and determining a defect associated with the array if the output signal does not correspond to the known state.

Method and apparatus for identifying defects in a chemical sensor array

A method is provided to sample a sensor array. The method can include measuring a waveform associated with a chemical event occurring on the sensor array. The waveform can include at least one region associated with expected measured values and at least one region associated with unpredictable measured values. The method can also include applying a first frame averaging to the at least one region associated with the expected measured values. Here, a first number of frames can be included in the first frame averaging. Further, the method can include applying a second frame averaging to the at least one region associated with the unpredictable measured values, where a second number of frames can be included in the second frame averaging. The second number of frames can be less than the first number of frames.

An apparatus including an array of sensors including a plurality of chemical sensors and a plurality of reference sensors, each chemical sensor coupled to a corresponding reaction region for receiving at least one reactant, and each reference sensor comprising a field effect transistor having a gate coupled to a corresponding reference line and an access circuit for accessing the chemical sensors and the reference sensors and a controller to apply bias voltages to the reference lines to select corresponding reference sensors, acquire output signals from the selected reference sensors, and identify one or more defects in the access circuit based on differences between the acquired output signals and expected output signals.

In one implementation, a method for operating an apparatus is described. The method includes applying a bias voltage to place a transistor of a reference sensor in a known state. The reference sensor is in an array of sensors that further includes a chemical sensor coupled to a reaction region for receiving at least one reactant. The method further includes acquiring an output signal from the reference sensor in response to the applied bias voltage. The method further includes determining a defect associated with the array if the output signal does not correspond to the known state.

A method, computer program product, and system are provided to calibrate a sensor array with a plurality of sensors. The method can include sweeping a voltage of a reference electrode from a first voltage to a second voltage, where the reference electrode is in fluid communication with the sensor array. The output voltage of each of the plurality of sensors can be monitored at one or more voltages within the first and second voltages. An overall average gain of the plurality of sensors can be calculated at each of the one or more voltages. Further, an acquisition window for the sensor may can be determined. The acquisition window can include a maximum distribution of sensors that provides a maximal overall average gain at a particular reference electrode voltage.

A compression method includes: measuring a waveform associated with a chemical event occurring on a sensor array, wherein the waveform comprises a plurality of measured values and the chemical event is indicative of a number of nucleotide incorporations in a genetic sequencing reaction; applying a first compression process to the waveform, the first compression process including a truncating of data corresponding to a portion of the waveform that is not related to nucleotide incorporations in the genetic sequencing reaction; and applying a second compression process to the waveform, the second compression process including a data substitution process that replaces at least a portion of the waveform with a plurality of coefficients representative of the portion of the waveform.

Methods and computer program products for compression of sequencing data

A compression method includes measuring a waveform associated with a chemical event occurring on a sensor array, wherein the waveform comprises at least one region associated with expected measured values and at least one region associated with unpredictable measured values; applying a first compression process to the waveform, the first compression process including an averaging of one or more frames in one or more portions of the waveform; and applying a second compression process to the waveform, the second compression process including a truncating of data corresponding to a portion of the waveform that is not related to a nucleotide incorporation component of the waveform.

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S. Glastonbury, CT, United States of America

Mark Beauchemin