Hitachi High-tech Corporation

Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Michiru Fujioka

Motohiro Yamazaki

Shuhei Yamamoto

Takashi Anazawa

Yusuke Goto

Tsuyoshi Sonehara

Taro Nakazawa

Sakuichiro Adachi

Toru Yokoyama

Wataru Sato

Kazuma Matsui

Hiromi Kusaka

Ayaka Okuno

Ryoji Inaba

Naoshi Itabashi

Ryusuke Kimura

Yoshimitsu Yanagawa

Minoru Sano

Akira Fujii

Takahide Yokoi

Nobuyuki Isoshima

Takashi Gomi

Rena Akahori

Takeshi Ooura

Takamichi Muramatsu

Akimasa Osaka

Asami Terakado

Akiyuki Nemoto

Toshiaki Hiratsuka

Jin Matsumura

An electrophoresis system includes a plurality of capillaries in which electrophoresis of a sample is performed, a light source that irradiates detection positions of the capillaries with light, a light detector that detects light generated by the irradiation with the light by the light source that depends on components contained in the sample, and a buffer storage unit into which one end of the plurality of capillaries are inserted at a time of the electrophoresis of the sample and in which a buffer is stored. A computer controls an electrophoresis condition of each of the plurality of capillaries such that arrival times for the components that move in the plurality of capillaries to reach the detection positions are shifted from each other. As a result, it is possible to detect fluorescence signals at different timings in each of the plurality of capillaries.

Electrophoresis system

The present invention aims to provide a biological sample analysis device which achieves an improvement in accuracy of an analysis result, a reduction in reagent cost, and shortening of a required time. The biological sample analysis device according to the present invention compares first measurement data acquired by measuring a biological sample and second measurement data acquired by measuring a reference sample and determines that when the difference between the two exceeds a threshold value, it is necessary to remeasure the reference sample before remeasuring the biological sample and reacquire a reference value (refer to FIG.A).

Biological sample analysis device and biological sample analysis method

In an analysis method and an analysis system for detecting fluorescences from each of a plurality of light-emitting points in a plurality of wavelength bands in order to identify fluorescence emissions of a plurality of types of fluorophores from the plurality of light-emitting points, spatial crosstalk and spectral crosstalk are present between the plurality of light-emitting points and between the plurality of wavelength bands, and then performance of the identification is reduced. The spatial crosstalk and the spectral crosstalk are eliminated and concentrations of each of the plurality of types of fluorophores at each of the plurality of light-emitting points are derived by inputting all detection signals in the plurality of wavelength bands for the plurality of light-emitting points to a predetermined arithmetic operation expression.

Analysis system and analysis method

Since a few kilovolts of an application voltage is necessary to take in a biological sample, an EWOD electrode, for example, is destroyed, and the electrode becomes non-reusable for moving a droplet. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a biochemical cartridge usable for multiple times for taking in a biological sample by a capillary array, for example, and a biochemical analysis device using the biochemical cartridge. In order to solve the problem, the biochemical cartridge according to the present invention includes a passage through which a sample is transported, a plurality of electrodes disposed on the passage along a direction in which a sample is transported, the plurality of electrodes being provided to transport a sample, and an opening provided opposite to the plurality of electrodes disposed on a downstream side of the passage.

Biochemical cartridge and biochemical analysis device

Provided is an electrophoresis device for enhancing its analysis performance. In order to achieve the task, the electrophoresis device includes a capillary array constituted by a capillary, a capillary head for bundling an end of the capillary, an electrode holder for holding an electrode provided at the other end of the capillary and a detector provided for the capillary, a first heater for heating the capillary, and an irradiation detection unit for irradiating a light to the detector to detect a fluorescence generated from a fluorescence labelled sample in the capillary. The electrophoresis device further includes a second heater for heating the detector.

Electrophoresis device

To enable taking in a biological sample at a position a predetermined distance away from an EWOD electrode, a biochemical cartridge, including a droplet passage on which a plurality of EWOD electrodes is arranged along a direction in which a sample droplet that is a droplet including a biological sample is transported, the plurality of EWOD electrodes configured to transport the sample droplet, and a sample take-in unit having a predetermined distance from an EWOD electrode at a tail end of the droplet passage, the sample take-in unit being provided at a position at which the biological sample in the sample droplet is taken in. When the biological sample is taken in, the sample take-in unit is located at a position lower than the droplet passage having the EWOD electrode at the tail end, and an area between the droplet passage and the sample take-in unit is smoothly connected.

An apparatus for storing a thin film device, the apparatus including: a thin film devicehaving an insulating thin film containing Si and having a thickness of 100 nm or less; a solution in contact with the thin film; and a container having a tank that seals the solution, wherein the solution is a solution that satisfies any of the following conditions (1) to (3).

Apparatus and method for storing thin film device and method for measuring biological molecule

An object of the present invention is to provide a biomolecule measuring device that can decrease the influence of crosstalk between chambers. A biomolecule measuring device according to the present invention supplies, to electrodes equipped on chambers, voltages modulated differently to each other.

Biomolecule measuring device

Provided are a first tank; a second tank; a thin film having a nanopore, which communicates the first tank to the second tank, and disposed between the first and second tanks; a first electrode provided in the first tank; and a second electrode provided in the second tank. A wall surface of the nanopore has an ion adsorption preventing structure to prevent desorption/adsorption of an ion contained in a solution filling the first tank and/or the second tank, and a voltage is applied between the first and second electrodes to measure an ion current flowing through the nanopore.

Current measurement device and current measurement method using nanopore

A biological sample analyzer using a nanopore, said analyzer comprising: a first chamber that storing a solvent; a baseboard provided with a nanopore through which a biological sample passes; a second chamber which is positioned adjacently to the first chamber via the baseboard and stores the solvent; a first electrode formed in the first chamber; a second electrode formed in the second chamber; a detector detecting the biological sample which has passed through the nanopore; and a stirrer stirring the solvent in the first chamber.

Biological sample analyzer and biological sample analysis method

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for treating biomolecules and a method for analyzing biomolecules with which it is possible to effectively suppress the clog of nanopores. The present invention is a method for treating biomolecules for analysis in which nanopores are used, wherein the method includes a step for preparing a sample solution that includes ammonium cations represented by a prescribed formula and biomolecules in which at least a portion of the higher-order structure has been fused.

Method for treating biomolecules and method for analyzing biomolecules

In order to avoid crosstalk between images by a simple method, an optical system through which lights emitted from a plurality of light emission points pass, and a measurement unit that measures lights imaged by the optical system are provided, and a midpoint of two arbitrary light emission points among the light emission points is shifted away from a center of the optical system. More specifically, the center of the optical system exists outside a light emission point group consisting of the plurality of the light emission points. With the above configuration, main images and ghost images are separated each other, and thus, it is possible to avoid crosstalk caused by ghosting and to correctly analyze emissions from the plurality of the light emission points.

Analysis device

The present invention provides a method for constructing a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule for nucleic acid sequencing by means of a nanopore sequencer, said method including: a step in which at least one hairpin primer including a single-stranded region on the 3' side and a pair of primers are used to synthesize a complementary strand of template DNA that includes the target sequence; and a step in which the synthesized complementary strand forms a hairpin structure inside a molecule and a template extension reaction is carried out. The obtained nucleic acid molecule includes both the target sequence and the complementary strand thereof in the sequence. Single strand construction enables analysis by nanopore sequencing, and the sequence of only the target nucleic acid, which does not include information of the complementary strand, is repeatedly analyzed, thus enabling analysis to be conducted with greater precision by addressing the problem of sequence errors.

Method for constructing nucleic acid molecule

In an apparatus for analyzing small number of samples, wasteful consumption of a polymer as a separation Medium is suppressed. The apparatus has a configuration provided with a plurality of capillary units each of which can be attached/detached to/from the apparatus, and performs analysis for capillaries after sealing of a polymer by attaching the capillaries by the number in accordance with the number of samples. Since analysis can be performed by using capillaries by the number identical with that of the samples to be analyzed, wasteful polymer is not used in the capillaries not used for the analysis. In addition, the polymer injection mechanism is unnecessary and the polymer is not necessary for maintenance and upon starting of analysis. An electrophoresis apparatus which is small in the size with no polymer injection mechanism, and with low running cost not wastefully consuming the polymer can be provided.

Electrophoresis apparatus, capillary array, and capillary unit

Provided is a nucleic acid analyzer, which does not require manual processes by a highly trained operator such as a researcher and is easy to use, small-sized, capable of accepting multiple samples, and performs speedy analysis, and a nucleic acid analysis method using the analyzer. The analyzer and method perform detection in a plurality of exposure times, provide a program for determining a threshold for signal detection, and determine whether a faint signal peak is a false signal peak.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Michiru Fujioka