The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 09, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 23, 1998
Wei-Sing Chu, Silver Spring, MD (US);
American Registry of Pathology, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
Slideholders which are useful for manually or automatically processing biological samples on microscope slides are described. These slideholders hold multiple slides and are designed in conjunction with specialized trays for rapidly processing the mounted biological samples such as for immunocytochemical staining. The slideholder plus tray assemblies incorporate several useful advantages including a requirement for minimal reaction fluid volumes, ease of handling several slides concurrently, prevention of evaporation of reaction fluids, protection of the biological sample from extraneous environmental contamination, and the ability to perform in situ PCR. Various aspects of the design aid in removing trapped air from the reaction fluids and in adding fluids to the biological sample. One embodiment comprises a coverstip with a soft top which aids in prevention of tissue degradation by preventing pressure buildup during PCR. The system results in very low background signals and allows for manually processing manifold times the number of slides as is typically possible with other current manual methods. Another aspect of the invention is the use of predried reagents in wells, especially the use of predried reagents which dissolve sequentially. Yet another aspect of the invention is the use of external controls placed directly on a microscope slide in conjunction with a biological sample to be assayed. The external controls can be conveniently placed on a membrane which can be affixed to the slide. A further aspect of the invention is a specially designed tray to allow whole chromosome painting of all chromosomes of a cell sample on a single slide.