Aurora Biosciences Corporation

Aurora Discovery, Incorporated

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (san Diego) LLC

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Nexus Biosystems, Inc.

Peter J Coassin

Andrew A Pham

Alec Tate Harootunian

Roger Y Tsien

Christopher Bentley Shumate

Chari Stylli

Peter N Pham

Samuel Scott Beckey

Harry Stylli

Minh Vuong

Brian Grot

Todd N Bennett

David Nicol

John D Mendlein

Javier Humberto Flores

Binh Nguyen

Walter D Niles

Jeff Stack

Daniel Hale

Huy Nguyen

Tuong Phan

Steve Rodems

David H Nicol

Todd Bennett

A dual-use, high density plate for storage and assays includes a frame including a matrix of wells. The matrix includes preferably 3456 wells with top portions being arranged preferably approximately flush with a plane of the frame. A solvent-resistant material such as cyclo-olefin polymer forms at least the bottom portions of the wells, and preferably the same solvent resistant material forms the frame, although varying from the bottoms of the wells by being rendered opaque. Evaporation control wells are preferably included at the periphery of the matrix for reducing effects of evaporation on edge wells.

Multi-well plate providing a high-density storage and assay platform

The present invention relates to multi-well platforms, lids, caddies and any combination thereof. The multi-well platforms comprise a plurality of wells that can be of any shape and can be arranged in any ornamental pattern. The lid comprises an area corresponding to the well field. The caddy has a footprint approximately that of a standard 96-well microtiter plate. When the multi-well platform is engaged with the caddy, the wells of the well-field of the multi-well platform are preferably not obscured by the caddy when viewed from the bottom of the combination.

Multi-well platforms, caddies, lids and combinations thereof

The invention is an automated multiple-purpose, integrated laboratory system comprising interchangeable modular elements for the construction and measurement of biological assays. The functions of the modular elements may include multiwell platform handling, chemical reagent or cell management, volumetric transfer of liquids for assay construction or for recovery of reaction products for analysis, incubation under controlled environmental conditions, measurement of spectrometric signals originating from the assays, processing and analysis of the resulting spectrometric data, and other functions. The modular elements are arranged around a number of robotic elements that deliver plates to different modular elements, transfer plates to groups of modules served by a different robotic element, or other actions necessary in plate handling. Liquid transfer to and from multiwell platforms, necessary for assay construction or for the initiation of physiological events in cells, is partitioned among different modules specialized for transferring nanoliter or smaller volume quantities of chemical concentrates, or microliter quantities of assay reagents, cells, media and other assay constituents. Applications of this invention include the quantitation and analysis of the expression of multiple genes in cells, measurement of multi-gene expression kinetics, analysis of activation or suppression of multiple signal transduction pathways, screening chemical compounds for modulatory effects on multi-gene expression or on signal transduction pathways or on other biochemical networks of cells, or other analytical biological or biochemical assays.

Automated laboratory for high-throughput biological assays and RNA interference

Devices, systems, and methods for the precise dispensation of small volumes of liquids are presented. A fluid microdispenser comprises a liquid-filled tube, an actuator coupled to the tube, and a tip at one end of the tube. When the actuator applies an actuation pressure, a precise volume of liquid is ejected from the orifice of the tip. The orifice is manufactured to control the volume of liquid ejected by each actuation and, therefore, may have a diameter smaller than that of the liquid-filled tube. The invention comprises systems, methods, and devices so that the inner diameter of the liquid-filled tube is decreased (tapered) to that of the orifice so as to maximize transmission to the orifice of the pressure generated by the actuation stimulus. This enables the volume of liquid ejected by each stimulus to be reproducibly controlled by the amplitude of the actuation stimulus.

Method and system for precise dispensation of a liquid

The invention provides for a detector assembly, fiber assembly and screening system for optical measurements.

Detector and screening device for ion channels

A chemical solution distribution system and method that includes or employs a plurality of liquid handlers where each of the liquid handlers includes a movable table that engages a sample multiwell plate and can align pipettes of the station with different subsets of wells of the multiwell plate where the number of wells of the multiwell plate is a multiple of the number of pipettes of the head of the pipette station. The system further includes and employs four different pumps to enable the system and method to supply four different solutions to wash stations of each of the four liquid handlers.

Liquid chemical distribution method and apparatus

A high throughput chemical handling system includes a chemical storage module, a transport module, and one or more liquid handling modules. The transport module may implement parallel chemical transport, and the system may include a plurality of asynchronously operable liquid handling modules coupled to the parallel transport module.

High throughput chemical handling system

A microplate lid having a substantially flat, generally rectangular top with first and second pairs of opposite sides. A flange depends from the top of the first and second pairs of sides, the flange bearings at least one recess area along each side of the first pair of sides, the recessed area extended into the top.

Microplate lid

One aspect of the present invention is a multi-well platform for fluorescence measurements, comprising a plurality of wells within a frame, wherein the multi-well platform has low fluorescence background. Another aspect of the present invention is a system for spectroscopic measurements, comprising reagents for an assay and a multi-well platform for fluorescence measurements. A further aspect of the present invention is a method for detecting the presence of an analyte in a sample contained in a multi-well platform by detecting light emitted from the sample. Another aspect of the present invention is a method from identifying a modulator of a biological process or target in a sample contained in a multi-well platform by detecting light emitted from the sample. Another aspect of the present invention is a composition identified by this method. A further aspect of the present invention is a method to identify a therapeutic. A further aspect of the present invention is a method of testing a therapeutic for therapeutic activity and toxicology by identifying a therapeutic using a method of the present invention and monitoring the toxicology and efficacy of the therapeutic in an in vivo model.

Low fluorescence assay platforms and related methods for drug discovery

A high throughput chemical screening method uses methods of concurrent transport and/or processing to increase throughput. A screener may concurrently retrieve chemicals from an addressable chemical storage module and deliver chemicals to a liquid handling module. The screener may also use one transport lane for moving chemicals away from a storage module, and a second transport lane for moving chemicals toward the storage module.

Methods for rapidly identifying useful chemicals in liquid sample

The present invention provides for systems and methods that utilize automated and integratable workstations for identifying chemicals having useful activity. The present invention is also directed to chemical entities and information (e.g., chemical or biological activities of chemicals) generated or discovered by operation of workstations of the present invention. The present invention includes automated workstations that are programmably controlled to minimize processing times at each workstation and that can be integrated to minimize the processing time of the liquid samples from the start to finish of the process.

Growing community of inventors

Encinitas, CA, United States of America

Peter J Coassin